Top-flight earnings have shot up by more than 200 per cent since 2000 despite a world recession, leaving everyone else behind and reaching a level which has raised questions about the game’s financial sustainability.

The new figures show that:

    - Average Premier League wages have reached £22,353 a week - before lucrative bonuses - or £1.16million a year.

    - Average Championship earnings are £4,059 a week (£211,068 a year), less than a fifth of players one division above.

    - In the bottom division, League Two, their weekly pay of £747 is not much more than the national average.

    - League Two earnings are also 30 times smaller than those in the Premier League.