York City chiefs are looking forward to a bumper cash windfall after the Minstermen won a top-flight reward for their FA Cup exploits.

A travelling army of supporters are already making plans to travel down to the Potteries to see Martin Foyle’s men face Premier League opposition in the shape of Stoke City following their progress into the third round of football’s most famous cup competition.

Regardless of the result, City, who secured their place in yesterday’s draw after Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Cambridge United, will reap half the gate receipts from the Britannia Stadium clash on the weekend of January 2/3 – money which the club’s communications and community director Sophie Hicks says will be a massive financial boost.

“It’s a fantastic draw – we wanted a Premier League club away from home because of the enormous financial benefits,” she said.

“It is public knowledge that the club loses money every year unless we sell a player or have a cup run, as we did last season by reaching the FA Trophy final, so to get a payday like this is hugely important – and I believe we’ve a chance of winning.

“This is one of the key draws of the round and we’re obviously hoping it might be televised, but whatever happens, we’ll take a massive following. We had 800 fans at Cambridge and they were tremendous, so this is a great reward for the supporters, the players, the management team and the board.”

Ray Wynn, secretary of City’s Supporters club, described the Stoke awayday as “excellent”.

“We’ll take a lot of fans, make a fairly substantial amount of money, and to draw a Premier League club means we’ve been justifiably rewarded for the brilliant result at Cambridge,” he said.

“Things are happening at York City and people are starting to sit up and take notice. Maybe people might spend a bit less on Christmas presents and follow the team to Stoke instead.”

Steve Clark, chairman of supporters club Pocklington Minstermen, said: “We’re not going to win the FA Cup, so the money for the club from what should be a decent crowd is really important. It’ll be great for the fans to have a day out at a Premier League side, and the players deserve it. Hopefully, the money we make will allow Martin Foyle to keep strengthening the side.”