The Football League Paper says...

Let’s spread money a bit more evenly

HOW much prize money do teams earn for a win in the FA Cup first round? £18,000. How much do the FA Cup final winners pocket? £1.8million.

How much do second round winners receive? £27,000. How much do semi-final winners get? £900,000.

What is the point of these questions, you might ask? Well, it’s just to suggest that it would be better if there was a more even spread of resources.

League One and Two clubs, as well as Non-League sides, are often struggling for money. Every bit of cash they can generate is much-needed.

They take the FA Cup seriously and, in our opinion, deserve greater rewards.

Which teams are going to earn the bumper pay-outs later in the competition? Generally, it is going to be the big boys, the Premier League teams who don’t need the money. They are already receiving eye-watering amounts from billion pound Premier League television deals.

That’s why they’re often not bothered about the FA Cup. They put out weakened teams and hope they get through. If they go out, no problem. Being in the moneybags Premier League is what it is all about.

Let’s not pretend, however, that all Championship clubs are whiter than white either. Why do they sometimes put out second string teams? Because they want to focus on getting into the Premier League!

What is £900,000 or £1.8m to Manchester City or Chelsea? Not much. But it’s an awful lot to lower league clubs scrapping to get by.

Hopefully, in years to come, prize money in the early rounds can by bumped up at the expense of the latter ones.

The big dogs might not like it, to be honest they might not even care, but it would be a step in the right direction for football in this country as a whole. We live in hope…