# The Orange Ledger > The Orange Ledger measures English football clubs' finances against the rules that govern them: the squad cost ratio, profit and sustainability, debt and owner funding, rebuilt from filed accounts with every figure traced to its source. For 2026/27 it rebuilds every Premier League club's squad cost ratio from the club's own filed accounts at Companies House, on one consistent method, ranks all 20 clubs, and updates each estimate at four checkpoints through the season (summer window, 2025/26 accounts, winter window, 2026/27 accounts), keeping every earlier figure on record. Its club finances cover twenty seasons, 2005/06 to 2024/25. Written by Arthur van de Laak. Site: https://theorangeledger.com Squad cost ratio rankings, all 20 clubs: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/ Open data: https://theorangeledger.com/data/scr-2026-27.csv and https://theorangeledger.com/data/scr-2026-27.json Author: Arthur van de Laak (https://theorangeledger.com/about/) X: https://x.com/theorangeledger Feed: https://theorangeledger.com/rss.xml Sitemap: https://theorangeledger.com/sitemap-index.xml ## What the squad cost ratio is From 2026/27 the Premier League limits squad costs (player and head-coach wages, amortisation of transfer fees and agents' fees) to a share of revenue plus the three-year average profit on player sales. Clubs above 85% pay a levy from 2027/28; clubs above 115% face points deductions. The first test is on 1 March 2027. Owner money does not count as revenue. ## Squad cost ratio rankings 2026/27 (updated 3 November 2026; lowest ratio first) 1. Manchester United: 56.9% (range 54.1-59.3%; 59.8% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/manchester-united/ 2. Sunderland: 60.5% (range 56.3-64.4%; 67.2% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/sunderland/ 3. Arsenal: 60.7% (range 57.5-64.7%; 65.0% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/arsenal/ 4. Coventry City: 63.5% (range 58.8-68.1%; 65.7% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/coventry/ 5. Hull City: 66.4% (range 61.3-71.7%; 73.6% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/hull/ 6. Leeds: 68.6% (range 62.8-73.7%; 72.9% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/leeds/ 7. Everton: 72.5% (range 67.9-76.0%; 85.0% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/everton/ 8. Liverpool: 73.6% (range 69.4-78.3%; 80.0% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/liverpool/ 9. Aston Villa: 74.2% (range 68.8-77.0%; 96.9% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/aston-villa/ 10. Manchester City: 74.4% (range 68.3-78.5%; 86.4% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/manchester-city/ 11. Brighton: 79.1% (range 70.8-82.2%; 109.5% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/brighton/ 12. Crystal Palace: 79.3% (range 72.7-81.9%; 101.7% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/crystal-palace/ 13. Tottenham: 80.4% (range 76.6-85.8%; 89.5% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/tottenham/ 14. Brentford: 81.6% (range 75.3-84.7%; 106.8% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/brentford/ 15. Newcastle: 81.7% (range 76.4-85.5%; 108.8% before player-sale profit). https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/newcastle/ 16. Bournemouth: 85.4% (range 78.2-86.8%; 105.1% before player-sale profit), above the 85% threshold. https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/bournemouth/ 17. Chelsea: 91.3% (range 82.0-95.8%; 115.4% before player-sale profit), above the 85% threshold. https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/chelsea/ 18. Nottingham Forest: 97.5% (range 87.6-99.4%; 124.5% before player-sale profit), above the 85% threshold. https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/nottingham-forest/ 19. Ipswich Town: 97.9% (range 91.0-104.1%; 109.0% before player-sale profit), above the 85% threshold. https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/ipswich/ 20. Fulham: 105.3% (range 96.8-109.8%; 116.2% before player-sale profit), above the 85% threshold. https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/fulham/ ## Rules explained - The Premier League's squad cost rules, explained: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-04-scr-explained/ - UEFA's financial rules, explained: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-01-uefa-rules-explained/ - The history of financial rules in football, Part 6: the drop into the Championship: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-05-regulation-part-6-the-drop/ - The history of financial rules in football, Part 5: a better rule for the Premier League: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-04-regulation-part-5-a-better-rule/ - The history of financial rules in football, Part 4: the anchor that was voted down: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-03-regulation-part-4-anchoring/ - The history of financial rules in football, Part 3: the new system, SCR and SSR from 2026/27: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-02-regulation-part-3-scr-ssr/ - The history of financial rules in football, Part 2: the Premier League's own rules, PSR 2013 to 2026: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-01-regulation-part-2-psr/ - The history of financial rules in football, Part 1: the Bosman era to UEFA's Financial Fair Play: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-30-regulation-part-1-history-of-financial-rules/ ## Club pages - Arsenal: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/arsenal/ - Aston Villa: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/aston-villa/ - Bournemouth: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/bournemouth/ - Brentford: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/brentford/ - Brighton: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/brighton/ - Chelsea: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/chelsea/ - Coventry City: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/coventry/ - Crystal Palace: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/crystal-palace/ - Everton: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/everton/ - Fulham: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/fulham/ - Hull City: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/hull/ - Ipswich Town: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/ipswich/ - Leeds: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/leeds/ - Liverpool: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/liverpool/ - Manchester City: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/manchester-city/ - Manchester United: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/manchester-united/ - Newcastle: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/newcastle/ - Nottingham Forest: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/nottingham-forest/ - Sunderland: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/sunderland/ - Tottenham: https://theorangeledger.com/clubs/tottenham/ ## Recent analysis - What holds each club's squad cost ratio down: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-11-03-what-holds-each-ratio-down/ - Who the clubs owe: Premier League debt, and how much of it the owners hold: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-31-who-the-clubs-owe/ - A £17m profit or a £97m loss? The £660m Premier League clubs made by trading with themselves: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-21-premier-league-hidden-losses/ - Dynamic SCR: a spending rule with a destination: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-15-dynamic-scr-a-spending-rule-with-a-destination/ - BBC Sport and The Orange Ledger on Manchester City: the prize money agrees to £0.1m, the totals do not: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-13-bbc-and-orange-ledger-manchester-city/ - Manchester City in Europe: £227.7m for going through, and the clubs on the other side: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-13-manchester-city-in-europe/ - Take Manchester City out of the table, and £1.92 billion moves to the rest of English football: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-12-manchester-city-out-of-the-table/ - How we estimate last season's commercial revenue: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-09-how-we-estimate-commercial-revenue/ - What £900m buys at Crystal Palace under the squad cost rule: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-06-what-900m-buys-at-crystal-palace/ - Under a 50% cap, Manchester City's way out runs through selling Haaland: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-06-manchester-city-50-percent-cap/ - Every club, rebuilt on the rule's own definitions: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-04-every-club-rebuilt-on-the-rules-definitions/ - Three definitions in the squad cost rule, and what they change: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-04-three-definitions-squad-cost-rule/ - How we estimate matchday revenue: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-10-03-how-we-estimate-matchday-revenue/ - City has 27 sponsors with no Abu Dhabi state ownership identified. What do they do now?: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-29-city-sponsors-what-now/ - City's sponsors paid £119m. Their owner paid £831m: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-29-manchester-city-commission-decision/ - Under Ferguson, Manchester United paid more in interest than they spent on players: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-29-manchester-united-glazer-cost/ - A 40-point deduction would turn Manchester City into Chelsea. Fifty-five would follow them back up: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-28-city-deduction-scenarios/ - Chelsea have to keep selling players. Manchester City barely need to: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-27-owner-money-chelsea-city/ - Chelsea at £5bn: what the price tells you, and what it doesn't: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-17-chelsea-five-billion/ - Saudi clubs owe an estimated €180m to €260m on Premier League transfers. Nobody publishes the number.: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-11-saudi-receivables/ - Morgan Rogers and the hidden credit chain behind a £117m transfer: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-10-rogers-chain/ - The window that bought itself: https://theorangeledger.com/blog/2026-09-08-window-that-bought-itself/ ## How to cite Figures are Orange Ledger estimates, not official calculations; the Premier League does not publish club ratios. Cite as "The Orange Ledger (Arthur van de Laak), theorangeledger.com" and give the range with the figure.