THE MAXIMUM WAGE

Association Football was first codified in 1863, with the formation of the FA, in England. At this time the sport was played mainly by Public Schools, or teams with public school roots, especially in the military, and amateurism was the norm. For example, Charterhouse Old Boys (Old Carthusians) were FA Cup winners in 1881, beating the Old Etonians 2-0 in the Final. 

This remained the case until the 1880s, when working-class teams began to vie for supremacy. Blackburn Olympic, a team composed mainly of factory workers, won the 1883 FA Cup Final. They were the first working-class team to win the competition since its inception in 1870. Though professionalism was not permitted, Olympic arranged jobs for their players, and supplemented their income with additional payments, a common occurrence among Lancashire clubs.

The 18th January 1961 was a momentous day, when the maximum wage was abolished in English football. In 1961 the most a footballer could be paid was £20 a week (£17 in the summer) and in its campaign to get the wage cap ended, the Professional Footballers Association – led by Fulham’s Jimmy Hill, pictured below– had called a players strike for Saturday January 21st 1961. Three days before the planned strike the League gave in and the maximum wage was no more allowing Hill’s Fulham team-mate, Johnny Haynes, to become the first £100 a week footballer in England. Ironically though the change didn’t see Hill get an increase in his £18 a week pay before he retired while Haynes didn’t get another pay rise in his remaining 9 years as a player.

and on the same date in 1973

Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty signed Celtic's Lou Macari for £200,000, the most ever paid, at the time, for a player in the Scottish League.

Weekly wages as at JULY 2022.