Reward for failure is now £95 million!

ROCK-BOTTOM Sunderland will depart for the Championship with £95-million worth of TV revenue tucked in their bank account.

That’s just short of £4m for every goal scored by David Moyes’ underperforming squad.

It’s also around £30m more than Aston Villa pocketed a year ago after they were relegated in 20th place.

Sunderland’s bumper reward for failure is the result of the increase in domestic and overseas income which kicked in this season.

Every club in the Premier League is now guaranteed a minimum of £85m – an equal share of the annual TV rights pot – plus additional amounts dependent on finishing position and the number of times they’ve been on telly.

It works out at roughly £2m a place and £1m every TV appearance, so the Black Cats receive £2m for being bottom plus £8m in “facility fees”.

Champions Chelsea, Sunderland’s opponents today, will rake in £153m, which includes £40m for finishing top and £28m for their involvement in live games.

Apart from the three-way battle for the two remaining Champions League spots, the final fixture list looks at first sight to have a lot of dead rubbers.

But there could be significant financial gains and losses in the course of the last 90 minutes and the fate of some managers may depend on what happens.

For instance, deposed Champions Leicester could end the campaign a respectable eighth and collect £24.7m or drop to 15th and earn just £11.4m.

That could influence the Thai owners’ thinking on whether to offer the permanent position to caretaker boss Craig Shakespeare.

West Ham, whose manager Slaven Bilic is under pressure, could finish 10th with £20.9m or 16th on £9.5m.

It could be the difference between the board sticking with Bilic or making a change in the summer.

Liverpool top the table for live appearances, today’s crucial clash with relegated Middlesbrough being their 29th of the campaign, a Premier League record for any single season.

Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have each been shown 28 times.

Sunderland and Hull share the fewest number of appearances on 8 apiece.