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Slightly before my time but it set me thinking how that modest investment may compare in today’s terms.

Just looking at RPI £10,000 back then would be around £200,000 today. Not an inconsiderable sum but in football contexts a relatively small amount.

If you put a different lens on this and consider it in terms of football transfer inflation the amount is actually quite large. Back in 1966 the British transfer record was £115,000 (Dennis Law), only surpassed two years later by Alan Clarke (£150,000). Equating that original £10,000 to the progression of transfer fees makes it around £9m in football terms today.

Who said football fees had gone crazy?

 

This highlights the madness of the football world today


Wages During The 1960`s
Until the end of the Fifties, English players maximum salary was £20 a week, adjusting for inflation that is around £280, this shows how much the wages have increased in today`s modern game. During the 1960`s we saw footballer`s status move from sportsmen to that of celebrities, with showbiz footballers such as George Best getting featured on the front page of newspapers as well as the back page and it was George Best who was the first big earner when who was given a salary of £1,000 a week in 1968 this is equivalent to around £16,000 a week in today’s money. In 1969 Manchester United was home to many of the footballing greats these included George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, the yearly salary for these stars of time was £204,028, this is around £3,5000,000 in today’s money. Manchester United`s current wage bill is around £203 million pounds, this is an increase of 58 times the wage bill of the late sixties.

Landmark Transfers & Wages
Over the years there have been a number of landmark player transfers that have pushed prices up as the various different teams compete for glory, below we look at some of the more important ones in the history of football.

1901 - £4 a week wage limit is introduced

1905 - First £1,000 transfer Alf Common moves to Sunderland from Middlesbrough

1922 - Maximum weekly wage increases to £8

1928 - First £10,000 transfer, David Jack moves from Bolton to Arsenal

1961 - Maximum wage gets abolished, Jimmy Haynes gets £100 a week salary (£2,000 adjusted for inflation)

1962 - First transfer over £100,000, Denis Law moves to Manchester United from Torino for £110,000 (£2.2 million adjusted for inflation)

1968 - George Best gets first £1,000 week salary (£16,000 adjusted for inflation)

1978 - Trevor Francis is first million pound player signed by Nottingham Forest from Birmingham City (adjusted for inflation £5,5000,000)

1981 - Bryan Robson breaks the British transfer record when Manchester United paid £1.5million for his move to them from West Bromwich Albion

1984 - Average wages for a player in the top English division was £25,000 a year (adjusted for inflation £76,000)

1988 - Paul Gascoigne first £2,000,000 transfer from Newcastle United to Tottenham (adjusted for inflation £5,000,000) 1992 - John Barnes first £10,000 week salary (£19,500 adjusted for inflation)

1995 - Bosman ruling allowing players to move free when they reach the end of the contract, this gives the players much more power when negotiating contracts.

1996 - Newcastle break transfer record when buying Alan Shearer from Blackburn for £15,000,000 1999 - Roy Keane first £50,000 a week salary (£82,000 adjusted for inflation)

2001 - Sol Campbell first £100,000 a week salary (£158,000 adjusted for inflation)

2008 - Average wages for players in the premiership was £1.76 million (£2.25 million adjusted for inflation)

2009 - Carlos Tevez first £200,000 a week salary (£255,000 adjusted for inflation)

2017 - Neymar sold for £200,000,000 to PSG from Barcelona, Neymar wages around £27,000,000

 

Yes they have gone crazy although it seems the majority of reported transfers at the moment below Mad League level are free or long loans.

That £10,000 investment garnered spectacular results at the time. The star signing was Barrie Thomas from Second Division Scunthorpe. He had been a First Division player with Newcastle and was now on the way down but still a classy player. He cost £7,000 while John Evans was a £3,000 capture from Exeter City. From having a pretty non-existent strike force we suddenly had two players who knew where the goal was and results took a dramatic upturn, and the crowds followed suit. Thomas bagged his 200th career goal for us in a match at Oakwell versus Halifax Town. I was there to celebrate that milestone.