How much Birmingham City are forking out on wages every year - It's more than Stoke City and less than Ipswich Town | OneFootball

FLW take a look at how much Blues' wage bill costs for 25/26 in comparison to the Tractor Boys and the Potters.

Birmingham City are spending more on player wages than both Stoke City and Wrexham for the 25/26 Championship season, but it’s not as much as Ipswich Town.

After their record-breaking 111 point-promotion from the third tier last season, Blues have maintained their fairly hefty wage structure - yet it’s fair to say they’ve not started as strongly as people expected on the pitch.

Not far behind them is Wrexham, who of course became the first club to secure three consecutive promotions through the top five tiers of English football, achieving promotion from League One as runners-up to Chris Davies’ side last season.

As for Stoke, well their owner, John Coates, is the third-richest in the division, yet they're paying less in wages this season than all of Birmingham, Wrexham and Ipswich.

The Tractor Boys' higher wage bill is partly explained by their parachute payments from the Premier League, which are estimated at around £49m in their first year back in the Championship.

Using Capology estimates, FLW take a look at just how much these sides are forking out in wages for 25/26.

How much Birmingham City are paying in wages compared to Stoke City, Ipswich Town and Wrexham

Blues' estimated Capology weekly wage expenditure of £362.5k, or £18.85m a year, places them as the 10th highest payers in the Championship.

After all, it is a position that reflects owner Tom Wagner's stated ambition to reach the Premier League by 2026.

It’s not news that Wagner has invested heavily since taking over Birmingham, with the West Midlands club spending £25m on transfers during their League One season alone, more than the rest of the division combined.

Still, their wage bill remains lower than the likes of relegated trio Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town, who all command substantially higher payrolls thanks to the aforementioned parachute payments.

Ipswich are spending an estimated £559k per week, which works out at £29m annually. This puts their wage bill as the third-highest in the second-tier, behind the Foxes and Saints.

Wrexham's estimated £18.2 million annual wage bill, translating to £349,750 per-week, sits just £650,000 below Birmingham's expenditure.

So, it's fair to say Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are as committed as ever. The Welsh club's payroll places them 11th in the Capology Championship wage rankings, a remarkable position considering they were playing in the National League just four years ago.

Whereas Stoke's estimated Capology wage bill is £17.8m - or £343k per week, which makes them the lowest payers among these clubs, despite the Potters having spent seven seasons in the Championship since relegation from the Premier League in 2018.

Perhaps quite fittingly, Birmingham, Wrexham and Stoke are 10th, 11th and 12th respectively for their wage bills - according to Capology estimates.

As you might know, the Championship remains one of the most financially demanding leagues in world football, with clubs collectively spending £893m on wages in 2023/24, a 25 percent increase from the previous season.

Two seasons on, it's likely that this number has increased again. Especially when considering only four Championship clubs reported operating profits that campaign, with most relying heavily on owner funding to sustain operations.

This level of investment shows the financial gamble clubs take in pursuit of Premier League promotion - and the disparity between the top-flight and Championship revenues creates what EFL chairman Rick Parry has described as a "cliff edge" between the divisions.

With all this in mind - for Birmingham, Ipswich, Wrexham and Stoke City, managing their wage bills while remaining competitive is the ongoing challenge.

While Stoke seek to maintain their somewhat surprising early-season form and challenge for a return to the Premier League after seven years away. The other three are all surely still targeting their own promotion pushes after somewhat slow starts.