Chelsea's huge spending on players and wages in the last season has counteracted a general trend in stabilising wage bills across the Premiership, the annual Deloitte Football Finance report has said.

Chelsea spent a massive £115m on salaries in the 2003/4 season – the first season under Roman Abramovich – representing a 110 per cent increase for the club.

Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business group at Deloitte said: "Chelsea's spending on player wages and transfers contributed to total expenditure on players of over £1bn for the first season ever. However, excluding Chelsea, we estimate that players' wages actually fell in the Premiership – again, a first."

Even allowing for Chelsea's extravagance, Premiership salaries increased by only 7 per cent – the lowest amount since the league's inception and well below the 23 per cent compound growth seen in the past 10 years.

The Coca Cola Championship also followed the trend of decreasing wages, with a 9 per cent decrease. Jones added: "Big transfer fees and wages will continue to be paid for star players, but for the majority of players the new sense of 'realism' will continue.

Details: www.deloitte.co.uk