WREXHAM will bank up to £300,000 from their FA Trophy adventure.

More than 35,000 supporters saw Wrexham beat Grimsby Town in Sunday’s final at Wembley and the gate receipts generated from the bumper crowd makes up a large proportion of the final total.

Winning the competition landed £92,000 in prize money and while there are bigger financial rewards if Wrexham win promotion back to the Football League, chief executive Don Bircham has welcomed the windfall.

“I would be surprised if it is not £300,000 after costs but certainly £250,000,” said Bircham. “That is from gate money, merchandise, hospitality, prize money and what we made from coaches.

“The players had a nice hotel to stay at, suits and had a bit of a party so there are extra costs to come off but I would say we have made somewhere between £250,000 and £300,000 for the club.

“It has been a welcome distraction and we never budgeted for it. Everyone knows automatic promotion is the priority - not even the play-offs - and we never discussed going for the cup but Andy said he wanted to continue with it because of the momenutum and winning is a good thing.

“It has not been a distraction on the league and once you get to the semi-finals and then the final, you might as well try and win it.

“I thought we were fantastic and it would have been a travesty if we did not win it.”

Although he is desperate to secure a place back in the League this season, Bircham admits player-boss Andy Morrell will have a competitive budget to try and launch another promotion challenge next term if unsuccesful thanks to funds from the Trophy adventure.

“If we don’t get promoted, God forbid, we have got to plan for that eventuality,” said Bircham.

“That helps us sustain our playing budget for next year so that is the real positive, we have got a war chest so we can have another good bash at it.”