BRAINTREE Town may have crashed out of the first round of the FA Cup but the game looks set to net the semi-professional club £100,000.
The Conference side succumbed to Tranmere Rovers, the runaway leaders of League One who are 66 places above The Iron, losing 3-0 in front of a 1,500-strong crowd at the Amlin Stadium last Tuesday evening.
But the game, broadcast live on ITV4, is expected to flush the Iron's coffers to the tune of £100,000, guaranteeing the club's financial stability this year and next.
It also allows the club to pay back a chunk of an emergency loan granted by Braintree District Council, which helped the club bring its creaking ground up to league standards and avoid an automatic relegation to the Conference South.
Iron chairman Lee Harding told the Chronicle: "Financially, we've done very well out of this game and we expect to make £100,000.
"Some of the money will be given to help to strengthen the side where the manager thinks fit and we will be wisely using it to pay back some of the district council's loan.
"We remain a debt-free club and that will continue.
"All the money from the cup run ensures that we now have financial stability for this season and the next one," he added.
The game – dubbed the biggest in Braintree's history – was originally arranged for Sunday, November 4, and scheduled to be shown live on ITV1 at noon.
But the match was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, stirring fears that Braintree's foray into the first round of the FA Cup proper – only the second time they have reached that stage – would not be televised when Tranmere returned to Essex.
However, ITV did choose to televise the rescheduled clash and scores of the Iron's young fans were delighted when Gordon Strachan, a pundit with the station, and Manchester United and Leeds United legend, stayed on after the match to pose for photographs and sign autographs.
