Manchester City asked to give up FA Cup revenue to opponents Exeter
Cash-strapped Exeter City have asked Manchester City to ease their financial struggles by donating some of their share of the proceeds from this weekend’s FA Cup tie.
Exeter and City are both due 45 per cent of the gate receipts from Saturday’s third-round match at the Etihad Stadium, which will bank the visitors between £250,000 and £400,000.
But the supporters’ trust which owns the League One outfit, which lent the club a further £600,000 last year, has appealed to their much richer opponents to help out.
“In recognition of the financial realities of our supporter-ownership model, the club has written to Manchester City to ask whether they would consider voluntarily transferring a portion of their share of the matchday gate receipts to Exeter City,” the trust said.
Manchester City’s annual revenue of close to £700m is around 100 times that of Exeter, who suffered further financial hardship when a fire at their St James Park ground caused £100,000 worth of damage in November.
Exeter hit by scrapping of FA Cup replays
City’s rivals Manchester United played in part in saving Exeter from financial oblivion in 2005 when they gave the then-non-league team all gate receipts from their FA Cup replay at Old Trafford.
The scrapping of replays since last season, however, means that smaller clubs now only get one shot at collecting a windfall when drawn to face a Premier League giant.
“We just wanted to flag up to the football world about how the smaller clubs can be penalised in the FA Cup now,” Exeter chairman Pete Ferlie told BBC Radio Devon.
“This extra money from the FA Cup helps, of course it does, but we would like to see a little bit more to really make sure that the summer is easier than it could be.”
City’s full share of ticket income from their tie with Exeter will be less than the reported £500,000 they pay star striker Erling Haaland every week.
The request comes as the Abu Dhabi-owned club prepare to spend £65m on Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo and mull a bid for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi.