Six-figure sums for England's Euro 2008 flops

WHILE Scotland's players received no money from the SFA for running World Cup finalists Italy and France so close in their Euro 2008 qualification campaign, their English counterparts were rewarded for the failure which cost Steve McClaren his job as manager, writes Stephen Halliday.

England, who were understood to be on a £250,000-a-man bonus to win the tournament, still earned individual six-figure sums despite losing out to Croatia and Russia for a place in this summer's finals.

By pooling money received from FA sponsors such as Nationwide and Carlsberg, the England players picked up bonus payments based on how many matches they played in the qualifying campaign.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who is on a salary of around £120,000 a week at his club, is believed to have received the highest bonus of £150,000.

Since February last year, however, Gerrard and his England team-mates have waived their £1,500 match fee from the FA. The money now goes to charity and will do so until 2010 when it is expected £1 million will be raised for good causes.

Scotland's players no longer receive individual match fees or appearance money. If they had qualified for the 2008 European Championship finals, they would have shared a £1 million bonus payment from the SFA based on appearances.