Saints might have finished in the top six last season, but in the league table of replica shirt sales they are right in the mid table in figures just released.

Figures just released showing the average replica shirts sold per year over the last five seasons have Saints very much in mid table in 11th place.

The stats say that we have sold an average of 30,000 shirts per season, as you would expect there are few surprises with Manchester United topping the table with 1,750,000 shirts that is almost double the second placed team Chelsea on 900,000 and third placed Liverpool on 852,000.

To put that in perspective if United sold every shirt in a retail outlet not owned by them and received only a £15 royalty from the sale then they would pocket around £26 million pounds more than Saints, even Liverpool would be around £14 million better off than Saints.

This is just in royalty sales, if the club sells its shirt direct it will more than double the royalty is the retail mark up, although most will be sold at outlets not owned by the clubs.

It shows just what Saints are up against and how retail money is vital to even the richest club, as was revealed a couple of months ago United are better off than Saints in shirt sponsorship by around £75 million a year, add the £26 million shirt royalties and you can see the gulf that exists and why the likes of United can afford to tempt the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin to Old Trafford with big money, in simple terms they can buy four Schneiderlins a year just on Shirt money before we even start counting our money.

Add to that other merchandising income, even a £10 scarf probably gives the club an £8 profit and it all totals up to what matters a lot is having a global fan base that spends big on merchandise.

Photo: Action Images

SaintBrock added 09:11 - Oct 18 Just not good enough, sack the kitman and get in somebody who knows what they are doing.
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SaintPaulVW added 09:02 - Oct 19 Not sure that's how it works for the big clubs. I think they get next to no royalty payment for replica shirts in exchange for the large upfront payments from Nike/Adidas etc. Obviously they make the retail mark up on sales at shirts at home ground megastores if they own the concession. As these are average figures,Leicester is a bit surprising. However it possibly shows the increasing importance of international markets developed individually by the now almost exclusive foreign owners of the EPL clubs. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Switzerland is a key market for replica shirt sales. Looking at the table I think 8th is achievable, possibly not above that unless we develop a global following.

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