While the top Football teams around the globe fight it out on the pitch for the top spots in their leagues, their books have received a thorough going over by top auditors Deloitte in the compilation of their Money Football League.

This annual exercise sees the revenue statistics of the richest clubs in the world laid bare and ranked in a glittering 20-team list. Published this week, the results from the 2008/09 season show few changes in the top spots from the previous few years.

Real Madrid remain in the lead – unbeaten in five years – despite a relatively disappointing season in match terms, bolstered no end by their lucrative and dominating broadcasting contract with Mediapro, which guarantees them over €1bn for the next seven seasons!

Manchester United were the highest among the UK contingent, seizing 3rd place with a colossal €327m dropping into the team’s coffers following there unrivalled success in the Premier League last year. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool were their closest challengers, with 5th, 6th and 7th respectively, but all posted figures over €100m less than the reds.

Some commentators had predicted that teams would struggle in the recent economic climate, but Deloitte has pointed to loyal fan bases continuing to attend games and buy into the brand, which in turn has continued to attract major corporate sponsorship, keeping the business afloat.

The top 10 teams are listed below:

1. Real Madrid: 401.4m euros
2. Barcelona: 365.9m euros
3. Man Utd: 327m euros
4. Bayern Munich: 289.5m euros
5. Arsenal: 263m euros
6. Chelsea: 242.3m
7. Liverpool: 217m euros
8. Juventus: 202.3m euros
9. Inter Milan 196.5m euros
10. AC Milan: 196.5.m euros

We all like to splash out on a bottle of something special from time to time. Some vintage Champagne for a milestone birthday, perhaps? Or a decades-old whiskey for a retirement send-off? The question is how much would you be willing to spend on a mere bottle of wine?

French producers dominate the lists of the most desirable and valuable bottles in the world – with the archaic regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy being the frontrunners. The most expensive ever sold was a 1787 bottle of Chateau Lafite, reportedly owned at one time by US President Thomas Jefferson, which sold for a mammoth £105,000. The wine was undrinkable, however, being sold in 1985 – some 200 years after it was bottled!

If you are going to fork out a lot of money, you may as well get as much in quantity as you can, right? Last month, Sotheby’s auctioned off a gigantic 18-Litre bottle of top Bordeaux wine, Chateau Cheval Blanc. The bottle, standing nearly a metre tall, requiring two grown men to lift – and able to fill a staggering 144 glasses of wine – smashed its initial estimates, fetching a £14,000.

But buyers should beware. With a market commanding such high prices, cases of counterfeit sales have been rising steadily in recent years. A diner at one of London’s top Michelin-starred restaurants famously sent back a bottle of 1961 Chateau Petrus, costing £18,000 in 2008, claiming that it was a fake. Experts were called to the restaurant to investigate but were unable to authenticate the bottle as date stamps were not used on the corks of the producer before 1964. Some recompense was given to the restaurant, however, when the diner proceeded to order a £20,000 bottle instead!

If there’s one thing the financial markets hate, it’s uncertainty. That much was clear earlier this month when sterling had hit a nine-month low against the dollar – fuelled by speculation of a possible hung parliament following the General Election that looks set for May this year.

Those apathetic souls who protest that politics in the UK is a dead game, and that there is no clear choice between the major parties, may be in for a big shock when they jet of for Florida in the summer to find their hard-earned holiday spending money greatly decreased in value.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago (October 2007 to be precise) that one could get double on any pound spent over in the states, leading to excited holidaymakers flocking across the Atlantic to enjoy discounted accommodation and snap up bargains on already reduced goods.

At a time when the economy is already at its lowest ebb for some time, having to draw up a budget for your summer break is yet another strain on your financial patience. The simple rule is, of course, don’t spend more than you can afford. Easier said than done, though. And if you do run into financial problems or need some advice on how to manage your finances better – well, you know where to come.

Consumers are not the only ones who have had to tighten their belts during these bleak economic times. As Britain treads cautiously in emerging from recession, the financial institutions themselves have had to readjust the way in which they offer their services.

Chief among those impacting negatively on their customers are the credit card companies, with recent figures showing that the average interest rate has risen to nearly 19% – a twelve year high and way above the base rate of 0.5%.

Faced with such high rates of interest, customers are seeing their outstanding balances increase and their incomes deplete as they struggle to keep up their repayments – only serving to exacerbate the problem further.

Caught up in this vicious financial circle, consumers need help they can trust and expert advice which is able to adapt to the challenges of today’s financial world. It never hurts to have legal specialists on hand either, in order to explore any claims that can be made against irresponsible creditors. Just a hint, you know.

If you see the financial storm clouds gathering remember the old TV advert which said: “It’s good to talk.”

Ignoring the problems will not make them go away so the sooner you make contact with creditors the better things may become.

It is through making contact that many clients have ended up with Bournes. A search of documents has turned up more than one unenforceable credit agreement, and, as a result, lessened the burden of repayment more than the client first expected.

The chances are that you have never looked at a loan or credit card agreement since you first obtained it, and that can be many years ago, and it could be worth more than a passing glance.

At the first sign of impending financial trouble speak to your creditors, all of them. Some will immediately offer to take a lesser payment and suspend interest, others will be totally intransigent at first but may well respond if you begin to maintain a lesser payment.

If you only have a small amount of creditors you may achieve this yourself but in many cases it is likely that you will need the professional expertise and experience of a company like Bournes Debt Solutions. Writing to and constantly corresponding with multiple creditors without experience is stressful and can almost become a full-time unpaid job.

Let’s say you have half a dozen creditors involving bank loans, credit cards and overdrafts. Talking to them several times can be extremely stressful and you may not make the progress your case deserves. Talking to Bournes just once could make all the difference and free up your time to get your earnings back on track and maximise your income earning time.

In the current recession many people find an increasing debt burden creeping up on them. It may be the loss of one particular part of self employed contract work, a part time job that has chipped away the extra they once had, or full blown redundancy.

When it happens you think you will never recover. If it has happened to you recently, at the very worst time of the year, it will seem doubly bad.

The self employed, especially those who have been self employed for a number of years, have been hit hardest. Replacing lost income is tough and finding an employed position in the prevailing economic climate is even worse.

So, talk to people. If creditors are unsympathetic, or in some cases downright unhelpful, talk to us at Bournes. It might just do you far more good than you think and help you to begin thinking of a fresh start in 2010.

From debt consolidation advice through debt management advice to avoiding bankruptcy, charging orders and repossessions, Bournes just might have the answer.