CHRIS LAKEY Norwich City will soon be banking a cheque for £125,000 - thanks to Dean Ashton's contribution to West Ham's FA Cup success.

CHRIS LAKEY

Norwich City will soon be banking a cheque for £125,000 - thanks to Dean Ashton's contribution to West Ham's FA Cup success.

Ashton left Carrow Road for Upton Park in January for a record £7m - with add-ons.

Those add-ons included two £125,000 bonuses depending on a future England call-up for Ashton and European qualification while the player is at West Ham.

It is the latter of those that has been triggered by West Ham's 1-0 FA Cup semi-final success over Middlesbrough on Sunday - with a goal by Marlon Harewood set up by Ashton.

West Ham now play Liverpool in the final and, because the Reds have already guaranteed themselves Champions League qualification next season, Alan Pardew will lead the east London club into next season's UEFA Cup competition.

However, there is an ironic twist to their story - they beat Norwich in the third round of the FA Cup on a day when Ashton, at that stage still a member of the Carrow Road playing staff, was deemed to be unfit because of a minor groin injury. That meant he wasn't Cup-tied - a major factor when West Ham agreed to shell out a record transfer fee for his services.

The Canaries have benefited from one part of the Ashton sale, with the second clause highly likely, but there is another important element - they also negotiated a 15pc sell-on clause.

City recently pocketed a cheque for £250,000 from Wigan as part of the deal that saw Damien Francis head for the JJB Stadium last summer.

The midfielder was told for a fee of around £1.5m in a transfer that included a clause that City would be guaranteed a further £250,000 if Wigan managed to avoid relegation.