How Hull City's wage bill compares to Coventry City and Ipswich Town as PL looms | OneFootball

The Tigers are Premier League-bound once again after a dramatic play-off win

Hull City sealed one of the most dramatic and unthinkable promotions from the Championship to the Premier League on Saturday afternoon against Middlesbrough at Wembley Stadium.

Kim Hellberg's team had been reinstated into the play-offs just days before the richest game in club football was to be contested in North London, and despite having far less possession than the Swede's outfit, the Tigers, once again, were on hand to serve maximum damage through Oli McBurnie's 95th-minute winner.

The forward had been left out of Steve Clarke's FIFA World Cup squad for Scotland just days prior, but his 19th goal in all competitions this season was enough for City to end a nine-year hiatus from the top-flight, some four-and-a-half after Acun Ilicali acquired the club for £30m.

In many ways, the way in which Hull's promotion-winning season panned out perfectly epitomised the journey the club have been on under the Turkish media mogul, having missed out on the play-offs in 2023/24 by three points under Liam Rosenior, surviving on goal difference 12 months ago after a season of two managers, before Sergej Jakirovic was able to mastermind their triumph in his first season at the club, and English management, despite being served with a two-window transfer fee restriction by the EFL.

As such, they will be joining Coventry City and Ipswich Town, as well as 16 other sides, amongst the elite level of English football, with the striker's aforementioned goal worth a reported £215m due to the riches on offer to any club who reach the top-flight.

But, with that said, Football League World have, through ESTIMATED figures from Capology, looked at how City's wage bill for the season under Ilicali's ownership compares to that of the Sky Blues and Tractor Boys, who finished 22 and 11 points ahead of the East Yorkshire outfit in first and second.

Hull City's wage bill for 2025/26 amid Wembley triumph

According to those ESTIMATES, Hull had the seventh-highest wage bill in this season's Championship with a weekly figure of £407,950 - rather ironically, the team with the eighth was their opponents at Wembley on Saturday afternoon in Middlesbrough, with their own estimate coming in at £405,769.

Leicester City were the side said to have the highest wage bill in the second tier for the current season, despite their well-documented financial issues that led to a six-point deduction, which ultimately resulted in back-to-back relegations from the Premier League to League One.

The Tigers' ESTIMATED weekly wage bill was also under half of that of Leicester's, who were reported to have been splashing out £820,500 on wage earnings throughout a disastrous season.

According to those figures, the biggest earners at the MKM Stadium were the central midfield duo of John Lundstram and Amir Hadziahmetovic, who were collecting £45,500 and £35,000 on loan from Trabzonspor and Besiktas respectively.

Meanwhile, left-back Ryan Giles is said to be on the same earnings as the Bosnian midfielder, and is the highest-paid permanent member of Jakirovic's squad.

How Hull City's wage bill for 2025/26 compares to Coventry City and Ipswich Town

While Hull have had to wait a long time to see Premier League football back at the MKM, Coventry ended a 25-year wait by winning the Championship in Frank Lampard's first full season in charge at the CBS Arena.

Despite the investment which has been plugged into the Sky Blues since Doug King arrived as chairman in 2023, the West Midlands outfit are ESTIMATED to have had the 13th-highest wage bill in the division with a weekly figure of £328,000, which falls below the likes of Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City and Watford - all of whom finished in the Championship's bottom half.

Ipswich, meanwhile, tasted Premier League football last season, and unsurprisingly, had the fourth-highest wage bill behind Leicester, the Blades and Southampton at a weekly ESTIMATE of £569,500.

Town, of course, broke the Championship's transfer record last summer with the £17.5m acquisition of Sindre Walle Egeli, but are now preparing for a first top division clash with Hull, who have bucked the somewhat recent trend of money guaranteeing success.