IT'S not supposed to be about the cash but the glory.

But lower League clubs like York City must be feeling a little short changed as the FA Cup kicks into gear this weekend.

Two seasons ago, the Football Association, desperate to restore the image and importance of the competition, beefed up the prize money on offer for victorious teams considerably.

City's subsequent march to the fourth round that season realised the club a whopping £100,000 in prize money alone.

Last season, as the club teetered precariously on the brink of extinction, City earned £20,000 for beating Swansea City in round one - enough to safeguard its future for another week.

This season, the game's top brass have slashed the prize funds in the earlier rounds considerably.

If City beat Barnsley tomorrow they will pocket just £12,500 compared to last season's £20,000.

If City were to make it through to the fourth round again this season they will bank £77,500 in prize money compared to the £100,000 they pocketed in 2002.

Of course, for City and their fellow lower League teams, any cash bonus has to be welcomed and even £12,500 is not to be sniffed at.

However, as City fans soon learned last season, £30,000 can be the difference between a club like theirs surviving and going out of existence.

I can't help feeling the FA, in their infinite wisdom, have got their thinking upside down.

Rather than cut the prize-funds at the bottom of the tree would it not have been better to lop from the top?

This season's winner of the FA Cup will bank £2million and the runner-up £1million.

Astronomical amounts though they are, it will just about buy a boot lace for a star striker at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or Highbury, the most likely destination for the famous pot come May.

It really isn't about the cash for those clubs. A million is pretty much peanuts.

I believe the FA should cut the £3million final prize fund in half next season and increase the money on offer in the earlier rounds.

Of course, it is the glory that motivates lower League clubs.

But the incredible chance of financial salvation the FA Cup offers is every bit as tempting.

YORK City fans are being offered a second chance to kick it on the hallowed turf that is Bootham Crescent.

As reported in the Evening Press earlier this year, the City Supporters' Trust is offering fans a unique opportunity to play in what is expected to be the last ever game played at the club's historic home.

There were initially 22 places up for grabs, 11 playing in the home kit and 11 in the away kit. The 11 home shirts and a substitute berth have already been auctioned off, raising a staggering £3,000 for Trust funds.

Now organisers are planning to put the away shirts up for auction.

No date has been set but fans wanting to get their bids in early can e-mail their offer to City mascot Yorkie, aka Steve Ovenden, via the unofficial City website yorkcityfc.com

Supporters without Internet access can send sealed bids marked for the attention of Steve Ovenden c/o York City FC, Bootham Crescent, York.

Organisers are planning to make the match a 'never to be forgotten experience' for the successful bidders.

Players will receive a full kit, each bearing the individual's name, and will get changed in their respective home or away dressing room at Bootham Crescent.

The home team will be bossed by City player-manager Chris Brass, while the away team will come under the guidance of an as yet unnamed former City player.

After a warm-up session, the teams will line-up for a souvenir photograph before the match is played.

AFTER a 9-0 walloping at the hands of Motherwell a week earlier, the Yorkie Bars bounced back to force a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe.

The Bars, made up of City fans brought together by the Internet, took the lead against their Iron counterparts through Michael Stockdale.

Scunthorpe grabbed their equaliser midway through the second half.

Updated: 10:08 Saturday, November 08, 2003