Owls play-off cash blow

Last updated : 19 May 2005 By Andy Parsons

Wednesday have received £40,000 from Sky so far for the semi-final games being covered live with a similar amount coming from the final against Hartlepool on May 29.

As far as gate receipts go, Wednesday got the biggest crowd by far against Brentford a week ago at Hillsborough but all revenue from that game will be put into two separate pools.

The Football League get 50per cent of all of the gate receipts from the combined attendances at Victoria Park, Griffin Park, Hillsborough and Prenton Park while the other 50per cent is bizarrely shared equally between Hartlepool, Brentford, Wednesday and Tranmere.

While not being a massive blow for the club, it seems unfair that other teams can profit from the near-30,000 crowd in Sheffield for the first-leg Bees clash.

One shining light though is that for the final, the league again takes half of the proceedings while the rest is shared equally between The Owls and Hartlepool.

But Shefki Kuqi's Ipswich Town failing to make the Premiership this season will not please many Owls fans - Kuqi had a clause in his contract which stated The Owls would receive £150,000 should Joe Royal's men get promoted.

Ipswich lost 2-0 to West Ham last night.