Worcester City owner Simon Lancaster discusses the financial value of the FA Cup, why cup success is treated as a bonus when budgeting and how local ties can generate valuable income and interest for non-league clubs.
The FA Cup may only be at the qualifying stages, but for non-league clubs such as Worcester City, even a relatively short run in the competition can make a meaningful difference to the season.
Ahead of Worcester City’s FA Cup replay against Knowle FC, owner Simon Lancaster discussed how the competition can provide an important financial boost through prize money, gate receipts and increased supporter interest.
With the winners progressing to another home tie against Stratford Town in the second qualifying round, Simon explained why every additional game can provide valuable income that clubs at Worcester City’s level cannot take for granted.
How the FA Cup Supports Non-League Clubs
Simon believes the FA Cup is structured in a way that can provide valuable support to clubs throughout the football pyramid.
Participating clubs benefit from gate receipts, while prize money is available as teams progress through the qualifying rounds. The financial rewards increase with each stage, meaning that winning only one or two matches can have a positive impact on a non-league club’s finances.
For Worcester City, however, potential cup success is deliberately not built into the season’s financial expectations.
The club budgets on the assumption that it will lose its first game in each cup competition. That means any additional prize money and matchday revenue generated by progressing further can effectively be treated as a bonus.
Local FA Cup Ties Can Generate Greater Interest
The identity of the opposition can make an FA Cup run even more valuable.
Simon highlighted the prospect of facing Stratford Town if Worcester City progress, with the relatively local fixture having the potential to attract a stronger attendance.
Progressing further and drawing clubs such as Kidderminster or Hereford could create even greater interest and potentially bring significantly larger crowds.
Beyond the immediate financial benefits, Simon believes the FA Cup has a unique ability to capture people’s attention. Its history and tradition can encourage supporters and the wider community to take an interest in games they may not ordinarily follow.
BBC coverage of Worcester City’s previous fixture demonstrated that effect, increasing the profile of the match and helping generate wider interest in the club.
For clubs operating at non-league level, that combination of prize money, matchday revenue, exposure and supporter engagement means even a modest FA Cup run can make a valuable contribution to the season.
Full Interview Transcript
Interviewer: We might only be in the first round qualifying stage of the FA Cup, but it has again brought into focus just how important a run in the oldest cup competition in the world can be, particularly for non-league clubs.
Worcester City head into tonight’s replay against Knowle FC knowing that, were they to win, they would then have another home tie against Stratford Town in the second round qualifying.
As clubs progress, the prize money rises, as does the interest in the local community and the profile of the club within its locality.
Worcester City’s owner, Simon Lancaster, is a huge fan of the FA Cup, and he agrees it can prove massively beneficial to the club’s balance sheet.
Simon: It can, yeah, at all levels, to be fair. The FA have got the FA Cup structured quite well to support clubs.
Obviously, you get half the gate receipts whether you’re home or away. In addition to that, there’s prize money for the winners and the losers of each round. At the level we come in, it starts at a decent amount and obviously increases with every round as well.
So, yeah, you only need to win one or two games and it can make quite a positive difference to your season’s finances.
Interviewer: Presumably, when you’re setting out the budget at the start of the season, you can’t really budget for a cup run, can you? So, do you essentially put in what you would get for losing in the first round qualifying, which I think is £750? That’s all you can put in, presumably?
Simon: Exactly that, yes. Our secretary and treasurer, Andy Jones, is very pessimistic in the best possible way, so he puts us down for a first-round loss in every cup competition.
To be fair, from a financial point of view, anything more than that is a bonus, which is a good way to play it, I think.
Obviously, you’ve seen smaller clubs have great cup runs and go all the way to round one or two. We did ourselves 10 or so years ago, and that’s fantastic, but you certainly can’t budget on that.
Interviewer: No, I think we all remember the Sean Geddes goals against Coventry City, don’t we? What a day that was for City.
Simon: Absolutely, yeah. Another one of those would be even better.
But I think, as is the cliché of football, you have to take each round and each game at a time, don’t you?
Coming back to the point, anything more than a defeat in the first round you enter is really good financially for clubs at our level, and it makes a big difference.
Particularly if you can get some local derbies. I know if we win tonight, which is a big if because I thought Knowle were very good in the last game, but if we were to win tonight, we’ve got Stratford, which is a pretty good local game. So, we should get a few on the gate for that.
If you can get some local teams and, if we were to progress and get a Kidderminster or a Hereford, then you can get some really big crowds in as well.
It really spikes the interest. There’s something about the FA Cup that really does spike people’s interest.
I think it’s the history and the tradition attached to the competition. Even on Saturday, the number of people watching the game because the BBC covered it, obviously watching it on TV, really does spike the interest.
Financially, that’s really important for clubs.
Interviewer: That was Worcester City owner Simon Lancaster talking to me there about the potential benefits of even a relatively short run in the FA Cup and just what that can do for a lower-league club’s finances.
Good luck to City tonight in that replay. We’ll keep an eye on that one for you, of course, and bring you any score updates as and when we get them.
