Robins are hoping for Cardiff fightback
CHELTENHAM Town stand to receive £150,000 if Cardiff City can turn round their first-leg deficit and come through this season’s Championship play-offs.
Neil Harris’ side are 2-0 down after the first leg as they travel to take on Fulham at Craven Cottage on Thursday.
Should the Bluebirds reach the Premier League, Cheltenham would net the bonus cash as part of the deal that took midfielder Marlon Pack from Bristol City to Cardiff on a three-year contract in August 2019.
Pack, now 29, left Cheltenham to sign for Bristol City in the summer of 2013 and an initial compensation fee of £100,000 was agreed due to him being under the age of 24.
But the move included a sell-on clause that has already benefited the League Two club to the tune of a considerable six-figure sum when his six-year stay at Ashton Gate ended last summer.
Pack was part of the Cheltenham teams that reached the play-offs in successive seasons under boss Mark Yates and he was named in the League Two team of the year in both 2011/12 and 2012/13.
The former Portsmouth youngster helped former Robins boss Steve Cotterill’s Bristol City win the League One title and Football League Trophy in 2014/15 before going on to establish himself as a regular in the second tier.
Cardiff finished fifth in the table with 73 points and Pack made 32 Championship starts and two substitute appearances in his first campaign in the Welsh capital.
Their fierce rivals Swansea City defeated Brentford 1-0 in other semi-final first leg match on Sunday thanks to Andre Ayew’s 81st minute half-volley. They met again at Griffin Park on Wednesday night.
The final will be held at Wembley on Tuesday, August 4.
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