Huddersfield Town’s wage bill was just more than half the average of Championship clubs in 2014-15.
Deloitte’s annual survey reveals the second-tier mean figure to be £23m.
Town’s spending on their entire football operations was £12.9m, 0.56% of the average.
The club’s turnover in a season when total revenue across the Premier and Football League topped £4bn for the first time, and was £548m in the 24-team Championship, was £10.37m.
The survey found wage costs were greater than revenue at nine Championship clubs.
AFC Bournemouth (234%), Nottingham Forest (186%) and Brentford (164%) had the largest wages/revenue ratios.
It was noted: “Such a level of spending provides an indication of the desire for clubs to gamble on achieving promotion to the Premier League, as the financial rewards for reaching the top division are greater than ever.
VIDEO: New Huddersfield Town coach Andy Hughes
“It also reveals why Championship clubs are so reliant on owner support, and are left vulnerable should that support no longer be available.”
The combined Championship revenue of £548m was 12% up on the previous year and a new record, the figure continuing to be heavily influenced by parachute payments (to former Premier League clubs) and solidarity distributions (to all clubs) from the Premier League.
But of the 10 clubs who benefited from having been in the top tier, only one (Norwich City) finished in the top six, while five were in the bottom eight.
The 20 Premier League clubs of 2014-15 accounted for £3.3bn of the overall figure - a number that will only rise when the new broadcast deal kicks in next season.
The top five European leagues - in England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France - combined for a record £9.2bn, with the Premier League generating £1.5bn more than the Bundesliga, which was the next highest-earning league.
Next season the 20 Premier League clubs will benefit from a new three-year deal under which each televised match will garner £10.2m in broadcast revenue.
READ MORE:
READ MORE:
“That’s where there will be another big step change in the amount of broadcast revenue,” said Adam Bull, a senior consultant in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
“Overall, we think for the 2016-17 season, we’ll be looking at about £4.3bn as opposed to the £3.3bn as we report in this publication.”
