How times have changed...

MANCHESTER United’s total wage bill in Sir Matt Busby’s final full season as manager was less than a quarter of Wayne Rooney’s current annual salary.

The newly-acquired United annual accounts for 1969 showed that United paid £204,028 - around £3 million in today’s money - in wages and bonuses to players such as Denis Law, Sir Bobby Charlton and George Best.

Three million pounds is 1.5 per cent of £203m - the figure for wages in United’s accounts for 2014–15. United captain Rooney reportedly earns £260,000 a week.

The Reds’ total income for 1968–69 was £569,418 (around £8.5m today); in 2015 it was £395.2m, with the percentage spent on wages up from 35 per cent in the older era to just over 50 per cent.

The old accounts also show the massive current influence of TV rights money: in 1969 TV paid United around £20,000 in today’s money. The actual current figure for 2015 was almost £108 million, with commercial revenue £169.9 million.