Back of the Debt: UK public borrowings vs Premier League

Ever wondered how the country’s personal finances compares to multi-millionaire footballers’? 

Independent financial comparison service Know Your Money has created a new interactive tool to find out how the world of personal finance compares to the fast and furious spending and borrowings of the Premier League. Called Back of the Debt, the user is asked to fill in their postcode and pick a favourite Premier League team (or one that they’re interested in) and the tool will show:

• How much debt there is in your postcode area.
• How this debt measures up against nearby areas and the Premier League teams.
• Debt per capita where you live, nationally and where your team is based.
• A series of stats about the spending power of the club you support.

Football is an industry long synonymous with money. Whether it’s the transfer fees splashed out on summer signings, the massive broadcasting contracts, sponsorship deals or the astronomical wages, so much of the coverage of football centres on finance. At the same time, the UK has hit a bit of a spending boom, with mortgages and borrowing reaching record levels. The questions however, is if this activity is at a level which could give the giants of the Premier League a run for their money? The answer may surprise you! For example:

• The residents of Burnley’s BB region have a total of £265m in personal debt, whilst their local football club has a debt of…£0! Sean Dyche and his club have this finance thing sorted out.
• Liverpool’s L postcode has double the amount of debt than their retrospective football club does: £475m compared to £182m.
• Manchester United top the table for club debt with a sum of £503m, however the residents of the M postcode have out borrowed the club with a total personal debt sum of £599m.

John Ellmore, director of independent financial comparison site Know Your Money commented on the tool: “We love to talk about football at Know Your Money – and whilst we’re excited by the Premier League’s return – we think it’d be great if we all thought about our own finances too. That’s why we’ve launched our new interactive tool – Back of the Debt – which helps you to explore the finances of your team and your local area. The tool gives some great insight into where you live and the club you support and put some of the eye-popping financial figures surrounding the Premier League into context.” You can take a look at the Back of the Debt tool by clicking here or trying it out below: