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There is no reliable public ranking of these clubs’ current League One wage bills. The latest figures show Cardiff City reported £29.2 million in player wages for the year to 31 May 2025, while Plymouth Argyle’s £21.245 million figure is for all club staff in 2024/25. Luton Town’s latest cited account summary gives turnover, not a comparable wage total. Those figures suggest substantial spending, but they do not show precisely how the clubs will compare with one another—or with the rest of the division in 2026/27.
What the latest disclosed figures show
| Club | Latest relevant figure | What it measures | Period and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff City | £29.2 million | Player wages; not total staff costs | Year ended 31 May 2025; Cardiff City Football Club (Holdings) Limited accounts, as reported by Cover Wales |
| Plymouth Argyle | £21,245,145 | Whole-club staff costs, including players, coaches, academy and ground staff | 2024/25; Salary Sport’s account-derived summary, which reports the figure as 73.7% of £28,827,859 revenue: Plymouth Argyle finances and accounts |
| Luton Town | £66.8 million turnover | Revenue, not a comparable player-wage or staff-cost total | Year ended 30 June 2025; Luton Town Supporters’ Trust account review: LTST’s summary of the accounts |
The figures are from different reporting periods and use different definitions. Cardiff’s player-wage figure is not directly comparable with Plymouth’s broader payroll, and Luton’s turnover cannot be used as a substitute for wages. So the table is useful for scale and context, not for declaring which club spends most.
Why Luton’s wage bill cannot be ranked from these figures
The Supporters’ Trust says Luton’s turnover for the year ended 30 June 2025 was £66.8 million, down from £132.3 million in the previous year. It also reports that operating costs fell by £17.9 million, principally because player contracts included relegation clauses. Those details show the financial effect of relegation, but they do not disclose a player-wage total that can be compared with Cardiff’s or Plymouth’s.
There is also a period-label conflict in an online finance summary. Salary Sport currently labels £132.3 million revenue and £39.5 million staff costs as Luton’s 2024/25 figures; that conflicts with the Supporters’ Trust’s account-year description, which places £132.3 million in the prior year and £66.8 million in the year ended 30 June 2025. Without resolving the underlying filing and labels, the Salary Sport figures should not be treated as Luton’s current 2024/25 comparison. The conflicting page is Luton Town finances and accounts.
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Why the Cardiff and Plymouth amounts are not like-for-like
Player wages and whole-club staff costs measure different things
Cardiff’s £29.2 million is reported as player wages. Plymouth’s £21.245 million is the club’s broader staff-cost total, which includes players but also coaching, academy and ground staff. The larger Cardiff number therefore does not prove that Cardiff’s total payroll or first-team spending exceeded Plymouth’s on an equivalent basis: the two figures cover different cost categories.
Accounting staff-cost totals can also differ from regulatory player-cost measures. The EFL’s 2025/26 regulations define individual player salary costs to include wages, remuneration and benefits attributable or intended for a player, including indirect forms. That definition is another reason not to treat every published “wages” or “staff costs” figure as the same measure.
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Revenue ratios answer a different question
Plymouth’s staff costs were reported as 73.7% of revenue in 2024/25. Cardiff’s reported player wages were 113% of group turnover for the year ended 31 May 2025. These ratios give context about the relationship between particular costs and revenue, but they still compare different cost definitions and reporting periods. They do not create a valid club-to-club wage ranking.
How the figures compare with the rest of League One
Salary Sport says it has account data for 19 of the 24 League One clubs, but its compilation draws on club accounts from different years and its staff-cost figures cover whole-club payrolls. It can help indicate the financial scale of clubs in the division, but it is not a synchronized table of current player wages or 2026/27 budgets. See its League One club finances and accounts.
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On the available evidence, Luton, Plymouth and Cardiff appear to be substantial spenders by the measures disclosed. The evidence does not establish their precise order among themselves or against every other League One club. Nor does it establish what any of them will spend on wages in 2026/27: the published figures are historic accounts, not current-season salary commitments.
Agent fees are separate from wage bills
The FA’s 2025/26 League One disclosure lists these net agent fees:
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| Club | Net agent fees, 2025/26 |
|---|---|
| Luton Town | £3,334,500 |
| Cardiff City | £1,719,640 |
| Plymouth Argyle | £886,038 |
The FA lists £14,041,489 in total for League One. These are agent fees, not player salaries, so they cannot be used to rank clubs’ wage bills. The source is the FA’s 2025/26 football agent fees disclosure.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What a fair comparison would require
A defensible ranking would need figures on the same basis and for the same period. In particular, it would need to distinguish:
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- Player wages from whole-club staff costs.
- Matching accounting periods or seasons.
- Whether the figures include employer taxes, bonuses and benefits.
- Actual historic expenditure from a current-season budget or commitment.
- Wage costs from revenue, transfer costs and agent fees.
Until comparable disclosures are available, a precise forecast or division-wide ranking would go beyond what the public figures establish.
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