Hawks will have earned over £110,000 from their FA Cup run if they can beat Marine

The club’s trip to north Liverpool will be screened live by BT Sport on Sunday, November 29 (2.45pm) - earning them a cool £37,500 as a result.

It is the first time a major FA Cup tie between two non-league clubs has been chosen for live coverage by any channel - be it the BBC, ITV, BT Sport or Sky.

BT Sport have also chosen to show Canvey Island’s home tie with Boreham Wood live on Monday, November 30.

‘It’s absolutely fantastic news,’ said Hawks director Trevor Brock.

‘It’s the sort of stuff you dream about when you enter the FA Cup.

‘We’re not going to win it, so you just want to try and make as much money as you can.’

Hawks are certainly doing that.

They have already collected £35,347 in prize money from winning through four FA Cup rounds.

They picked up £3,375 for beating Horsham in the second qualifying round, rising to £5,625 for easing past Chatham in the third and £9,375 for beating Bath away in the fourth.

Bedsente Gomis’ first half header against Cray Valley Paper Mills last Sunday earned the club a further £16,972.

That last tie was streamed live by the BBC, earning Hawks £12,500.

Including the TV fee for the Marine game, that lifts the club’s earnings so far to £85,972.

And another £25,500 will be banked if they can beat their Northern Premier League North West hosts and book a third round place for only the second time in their history.

The loser will collect £8,500, so the minimum Hawks will make from this season’s FA Cup adventure is £94,472.

Their earnings will have risen to £111,472 if they beat Marine, with £82,000 up for grabs for winning a third round tie and possibly more TV money depending on the draw.

The TV cash rises to £150,000 for any club whose third round tie is shown live.

Though this season’s cash amounts are impressive for a club in the sixth tier of English football, they are still a long way away from the riches Hawks banked in 2007/08.

Back then, the club banked £98,750 in prize money for winning through six rounds.

They also received over £500,000 as their share of the profits from a fourth round tie at Anfield.

Remarkably, given the romance surrounding that tie against Liverpool, it wasn’t chosen for live TV coverage.

The only TV money the club made from their FA Cup run was about £40,000 from Welsh TV to show highlights of the third round replay win against Swansea City at Westleigh Park.

This season’s cup run, though, is the second most lucrative in Hawks’ history and could not have come at a better time.

Financially, life is tough for all clubs during the pandemic - especially those forced to play games behind closed doors.

Hawks are due to receive £90,000 from the National Lottery fund to cover the months of October, November and December.

That will obviously help pay wages and bills, but club revenue is way down on what it would normally be if fans were allowed in.

That is why an FA Cup run worth at least £94,472 is being widely celebrated by Hawks officials.

It might not be the most glamorous cup run of all time - with no disrespect to Horsham, Chatham, Bath, Cray Valley or Marine.

But, in the middle of a pandemic, financial benefits outweigh the glamour. Better to win through several rounds against lower league opponents rather than draw Portsmouth at home in the first round and lose, especially at a time when ties are staged behind closed doors.

The glamour could well yet still arrive, and that would be the icing on top of an impressive cash cake.