The story broke in the wake of our semi-final win over Hearts when it emerged players were unhappy with the bonus and the directors had not been allowed into the changing room to join in the celebrations. The players had supposedly been on around £1,000 a man to win the game - £600 less than they were offered to beat Motherwell in the previous round.
This was rather odd as the semi-final was a far more important game, so things should surely have gone up, rather than down. However, what more incentive should a professional need for a match than the reward of playing in a cup final if they manage a win?
Things have blown up again with the increased media coverage ahead of the big day. The players weren't happy that they weren't involved in preparations for a post-match event and have decided to stage their own. It's a silly oversight by the board, but hardly something worth leaking to the papers as someone has obviously done. They were also willing to forego a stay in a hotel on Saturday night and cup final suits - on the condition their bonus demands were met.
Club captain John Potter said yesterday that the row was at an end, but it is clear everyone was far from happy. Reports today suggest the players were after £6,000 a man for winning the final but have been forced to settle for somewhere between £2,000 and £3,500. This is still a sizeable chunk of money, and they are rumoured to be getting £3,000 each just for turning up!
The club is set to make a huge amount of money from the cup run. While the collapse of Setanta and various other issues have caused problems, I would be shocked if this adventure hasn't more than solved that problem. There should be money for an increased bonus.
But, unless we're doing something very wrong, a bonus of £2,000 is far more than they'd get for winning a league game. It seems a fair deal. As I say in the title of this piece - what more incentive do you need to win? A cup is at stake here, the chance to become a hero and the chance to earn a medal. It may be an old fashioned idea, but that's what the priority should be - the win bonus on offer should be irrelevant. Sadly, the players seem to have seen things differently in the last few weeks.
When we had a big cup game against Rangers this year the Old Firm friendly press destabilised us by making up rumours about Andy Dorman. This time around, we've managed to cause unrest all by ourselves. Let's just hope it doesn't have too negative an impact on Sunday.