THE average annual salary of a footballer in England’s top flight has broken through the £1m ceiling for the first time.

While England have struggled to qualify for Euro 2008, players in the Premier League are now earning 15 times more than the “golden generation” who lifted the World Cup in 1966, even when inflation is factored in.

In 1966 First Division players were paid an average of £100 a week by their clubs. Today that figure - when performance-related bonuses are taken into account - stands at an eyewatering £21,000 a week, according to estimates by Deloitte, the accountants.

Those at the pinnacle of the game, such as John Terry, the England and Chelsea captain, reportedly rake in more than six times that amount.

According to separate research, Terry’s pay shows an astronomical 96,329% increase from the £140-a-week that Bobby Moore, England’s 1966 captain, was earning at West Ham. Inflation over this period was 1,257%.

The rate of increase means that footballers now earn almost as much in a week as the average person is paid in a year. Moore's World Cup-winning team earned about six times the national average wage in 1966.

Critics believe that the huge salaries on offer at club level may contribute to a lack of hunger for success on the international stage. Results over the past two years have put the job of Steve McClaren, the England coach, on the line although Israel's victory over Russia last night means his team only need a drawn against Croatia on Wednesday to be certain of qualifying.

The England players have frustrated fans by failing to beat sides in a group that their former coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson, had implied was easy. “I think you should all be happy with this group,” he said when the draw was first announced.

Instead, England have been left to depend on mathematical scenarios and other results while Scotland at least had their own destiny in their hands when lost 2-1 to Italy at Hampden Park last night.

“I can’t imagine anything less passionate than the way we play now,” said George Cohen, who played as right back in the 1966 World Cup. “They [the players] don’t want to play badly, but you can’t say they’re up for it.”

England’s uphill struggle to make it to next year’s finals of the European Championship is in stark contrast to the national rugby team, which won the World Cup in 2003 and – against all odds – reached the final in France last month. Yet the average weekly pay of a rugby player in the Guinness Premiership is about £1,250 – less than one-fifteenth of what a footballer receives.

Last week members of the England women’s team criticised the Football Association for paying them a paltry £40 a day as they competed for five weeks at the World Cup in China.

The backlash against top footballers’ pay took on a new momentum this month when Gerry Sutcliffe, the sports minister, described their wages as “obscene”.

He appeared to single out Terry, who is the highest paid player in the Premier League after signing a new contract reportedly worth up to £135,000 a week.

Last night the minister said he had not intended to target specific individuals, but urged clubs to be more “careful” about pay.

“I accept that footballers have got short careers and they’ve got to maximise their earnings, but that’s got to be in the context of affordability and making sure that people can afford to get to games,” he said.

Deloitte, which publishes an annual review of football finances, predicts that the first £200,000-a-week player – equivalent to an annual salary of £10m – will emerge by 2010 as more money from foreign owners and broadcasters is pumped into the sport.

The underwhelming performance of England has also raised serious questions about the large number of foreigners playing in the Premier League which, some believe, is stifling opportunities for home-grown players. Arsenal, for example, regularly field a team without a single British-born player.

Steven Gerrard, the England and Liverpool midfielder who is the league’s second highest-paid footballer, reportedly earning £120,000 a week, said last week that he favoured quotas to ensure a minimum number of home-grown players in club sides.

“I’m definitely all for quotas, I’m all for there being a rule change,” said Gerrard. “There is a danger that we will stop producing quality young kids because of the amount of foreigners in the game. If foreigners do take over completely, it will affect the national team even worse than maybe it is now.”

Estimated weekly wages of the Premier League's top earners

1. John Terry, Chelsea, £135,000

2= Andrei Shevchenko, Chelsea, £121,000

2= Michael Ballack, Chelsea, £121,000

4. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool, £120,000

5. Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United, £119,000

6= Wayne Rooney, Manchester United, £110,000

6= Michael Owen, Newcastle United, £110,000

8= Frank Lampard, Chelsea, £100,000

8= Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United, £100,000

10= Fernando Torres, Liverpool, £90,000

10= Didier Drogba, Chelsea, £90,000

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