Tranmere Rovers set for TV windfall from FA Cup clash

Nov 1 2012 by Nick Hilton, The Liverpool Post

CONFERENCE National club Braintree Town are heading for the biggest pay day in their history when they play host to Tranmere in the FA Cup this weekend.

And Rovers are doing quite nicely themselves out of a first round tie on Sunday (kick-off 12.30pm) that is being shown live in ITV1.

Each club will receive a broadcast fee of just under £64,000 with a further £18,000 coming the way of the winners in FA Cup prize money.

Braintree chairman Lee Harding said: "Although it will cost us money to stage the game, we are looking at a six-figure income from this FA Cup run, which is obviously important to a club like ours."

Manager Alan Devonshire, an FA Cup winner with West Ham United in the 1980s, is delighted at having the highest-ranked team currently in the competition coming to Cressing Road.

"This will raise the whole profile of the club," Devonshire said. "I'm also pleased for the players – it's going to be a massive game for them. We have everything to play for and nothing to lose."

Harding added: "It allows us to plan with more certainty. Things like prize money are windfalls which we've said to Alan will be put into the budget (for players) and spent.

"We are just starting to talk about how we are going to use the television fee. We borrowed some money recently from Braintree Council with regard to getting all our ground improvements done, and I think a large chunk of the profits will be ploughed back into that. It's not particularly sexy, but it's about planning for a sustainable future."

Tranmere have released funds to manager Ronnie Moore to recruit two strikers on loan in recent weeks: Jake Jervis from Birmingham City and Nathan Eccleston from Blackpool.

Eccleston is likely to partner 10-goal leading marksman Jake Cassidy in attack at Braintree because Jervis does not have permission from his parent club to play in the FA Cup.

Moore warned: "We are not playing a team of mugs. Braintree won at Luton Town just over three weeks ago and got a 0-0 draw at Hereford. I think it is going to be one hell of a cup tie."