A Liverpool legend shared a fascinating glimpse into the past by posting a payslip on social media, revealing the staggering contrast between soccer wages then and now.

Over the years, Liverpool has been home to some of the world’s greatest players, including icons like Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Mohamed Salah, Luis Suarez, and Fernando Torres. The wages of these modern stars appear even more astronomical when compared to the days of the old First Division, when many players still needed second or even third jobs just to make ends meet.

Liverpool striker John Aldridge took to X (formerly Twitter) earlier this year to share a squad payslip from August 1960, which he had recently discovered.

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The payslip came from a time when Liverpool were still in the Second Division, with promotion to the top flight not arriving until 1962 under Bill Shankly.

Despite the club’s second-tier status, the squad featured notable names such as 1966 World Cup winner Roger Hunt and Ian Callaghan. However, the wages at the time were far from the lucrative sums we see today. The top earners in the squad were taking home £23 a week, which would be around £663 in today’s money. Some players could also receive a £4 bonus, roughly £115 now, if they met certain performance targets.

At the time, coach Bob Paisley, who would later become one of the club’s greatest-ever managers, earned £17 a week (around £490 today), while his eventual successor Joe Fagan received £16 per week (roughly £461).

To put this into perspective, for a player in 1960 to match Salah's reported £350,000 weekly wage — Liverpool's highest earner — they would have needed to earn around £12,150 per week (adjusted for inflation from in2013dollars ), not including any bonuses.

The difference in football wages between then and now highlights just how much the financial landscape of the game has evolved over the decades.

Liverpool is currently facing the prospect of securing its three key players, Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to new contracts, but is set for an astronomical financial outlay. Alexander-Arnold seems destined to sign for Real Madrid on a free transfer, while Van Dijk and Salah are believed to be closer to staying - though likely on huge wages.