Saints will have to battle to ensure they don’t get stuck in the financial Premier League spiral that has seen player wages reach record levels.

The latest annual review of football finance by analysts Deloitte show the increase in wages outstripped the growth in revenues.

It has resulted in a wages/revenue ratio of 70 per cent in the Premier League – a record figure, having crept up from the low-to-mid 60s five years ago.

The latest set of Saints accounts, for their League One promotion season, saw group wages make up a whopping 93 per cent of turnover.

However, the club were confident that percentage figure would naturally reduce with one-off payments, believed to be for the sacking of Alan Pardew and his staff, included in that figure.

It is believed many of the current Saints squad and club management have landed substantial bonuses for promotion to the Premier League and that they will also see their wages rise as a result.

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