£2.9m windfall heading for McDiarmid Park if Saints overcome LASK

St Johnstone will bank a guaranteed £2.9 million if they overcome LASK to reach the Europa Conference League (UECL) group phase on Thursday.

The encounter against the Austrians is the most lucrative game in Saints’ history and could open the door to even further riches as the competition progresses.

Each victory in the group phase is worth £540,000, while a draw will see a not inconsequential £180,000 added to the coffers.

A further amount is forthcoming in the form of a cut of the “market pool”, a variable fee based on the value of a nation’s TV market – and split between the participating clubs from that country.

The group winners will bank a further £945,000, with the runners-up pocketing £470,000.

As such, if St Johnstone were to get past LASK then win all of their games in the group stage, they would have earned more than £7m.

Money earned between match-days one and three are paid out on November 5, with match-days four to six paid out on January 4 2022. If St Johnstone can qualify for the group phase of a continental competition, why not go a step further?

The financial rewards keep on coming as the tournament progresses.

Qualification for the knockout play-off round is worth £430,000, a last-16 place earns £1m and a quarter-final berth has a £1.5m reward.

The business end of the competition sees £2.4m paid to the semi-finalists and £3.9m for reaching the final.

The winners of the final at the Arena Kombetare in Albania walk away with another £3.4m.

Even if Saints do lose against LASK, their remarkable run to this point will not have been for nothing.

Not only will they have banked bumper gate receipts from sell-out showdowns against Galatasaray and the Austrians, but clubs eliminated at the UECL play-off round receive a one-off payment of £645,000.

St Johnstone would bank that on September 10.

Whoever said “it’s not the winning that counts, it’s the taking part” clearly had not seen what St Johnstone stand to gain if they keep their European hopes alive.

The Perth club are in line for £2.9 million if they beat Austrian side LASK to reach the Europa Conference League group phase this week. That’s a game-changing sum for St Johnstone and it opens the door to millions more if they go further still in the competition.

It is certainly something for the Saints faithful to sing about at McDiarmid Park on Thursday night.

MONEY IN THE BANK: St Johnstone fans, pictured at McDiarmid Park, are looking forward to their team’s home encounter with LASK on Thursday.