BURNLEY have been operating with a wage bill that is less than a third of some of their relegation rivals, according to figures released this week.

The Clarets paid out £21.5m in wages for the 2013/14 season – some way short of the next lowest wage bill for a current Premier League club.

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Leicester City paid out £36.3m in wages, while Hull City were the third lowest with £43.3m.

Sunderland, however, had the ninth highest wage bill in the Premier League at £69.5m.

Those figures were surpassed by second bottom QPR, whose wage bill was £75.3m – despite the fact that they spent last season in the Championship.

Only Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United paid out more in wages than the West London club, whose wage to turnover ratio was an astonishing 195 per cent.

Burnley’s turnover was £19.6m, placing their wage to turnover ratio at 110 per cent.

That was the third highest figure of all 20 Premier League clubs, largely as a result of the fact that they spent last season in the second tier.

Leicester’s ratio was 116 per cent.