Arsenal cannot help finishing fourth... even when it comes to the rankings of how much chief executives earn

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It sounds like a joke but Arsenal fans will think it is anything but. Where does their club's chief executive Ivan Gazidis rank among the highest paid directors in English football? Fourth.

Arsenal being fourth has been one of the gags of recent years, usually dished out by rival fans. If it wasn't especially funny for Gunners supporters before, it is even less so now.

They couldn't even finish in the top four last season, and after a transfer window best described as underwhelming and more commonly being painted as farcical, Gazidis has questions to answer.

Ivan Gazidis's yearly earnings of £2,608,000 see Arsenal finish fourth in a wages league table

One of his key roles should be orchestrating recruitment of top talent.

The most recent accounts available for the 20 current Premier League clubs - from summer 2016 - show the 52-year-old Oxford graduate Gazidis was paid £2,608,000 by Arsenal for that year's work.

Only his counterparts at Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City earned more - and not by much.

Daniel Levy at Spurs took home £2.8m as Spurs were runners-up. Ed Woodward at United earned £2.96m in charge of by far the 'biggest' club in the country - by earnings and fanbase.

Manchester City's Ferran Soriano is estimated to be on around £3m but the accounts declare only that 'key management' split £4.4m.

The sums listed in some cases went to directors now departed from their clubs, including Jeremy Peace at West Brom, who sold his shares, and Ian Ayre at Liverpool. Aside from those mentioned only Bournemouth paid their top executive £1m-plus - in their case to someone unnamed.

At the other end of the scale, none of Burnley's directors - all fans and locals who together own the club - are paid anything for that role. And Huddersfield, Newcastle and Leicester are clubs paying one tenth or less the sums of the giants.