SAINTS will receive the same miserly amount of prize money as the winners of the Checkatrade Trophy if they win the League Cup – and they’ll start next season at the end of July!

In this multi-million pound Premier League era, it is quite astonishing to note that only £100,000 will be handed over to the triumphant side at the national arena on Sunday.

That is the same amount of money that will be dished out to the victors of the far lower profile Checkatrade Trophy, which Saints won in 2010 under its former guise the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and is traditionally a tournament for League One and Two sides.

Having beaten Premier League Burnley 1-0 in the FA Cup fifth round, non-league Lincoln City will have earned nearly double what Saints will pocket if they beat Manchester United.

The Imps collected around £180,000 for their win at Turf Moor, while in total £1.8m is up for grabs for the winners of the FA Cup.

While the financial gain isn’t enormous, winning their first major silverware in 41 years does come packaged with a big incentive for Saints – European qualification.

Winning the cup would go down as one of the most iconic moments in the club’s 132-year history and reaching Europe also fulfils another one of their goals this term.

It would be the third consecutive season they reached the Europa League - after only one European campaign in 30 years prior - and on this occasion they would have to tread a familiar path in to the continental competition.

Just as they did under Ronald Koeman in 2015/16, Claude Puel’s men would enter the Europa League at the third qualifying stage.

They would then play their first third qualifying round leg on 27 July, before the second leg on 3 August. That game would come a little more than a week before the start of the Premier League campaign.

Saints will then go into a play-off double leg for a place in the group stages.

The draw for that is set for 4 August, before the first and second leg on the 17th and 24th of the same month.

Saints entered the third qualifying stage last season, beating Vitesse Arnhem 5-0 on aggregate. Koeman’s side then failed to overcome Danish champions Midtjylland in the play-off, losing 2-1 over the two legs.