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After winning the Championship play-off final Fulham will make a huge £174.8m over the next three seasons – over double the amount of prize money Liverpool will win if they beat Real Madrid in tonight’s Champions League.
The south Londoners have spent four seasons in the second-tier since they were relegated in 2014, but Tom Cairney's first-half goal was enough to see the Cottagers return to the big time after four years away.
And they will be handsomely rewarded, as the Swiss Ramble blog has shown.
The club stands to earn £94.7m next season in central distribution payments from the Premier League – with further financial help if they are relegated back to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Even if they are relegated at the first time of asking they still stand to earn £174.8m.
Show all 23 1 /23Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Sam Johnstone - 6 out of 10 Could do very little about Cairney’s opening goal. Got in a mix up with Chester which almost allowed Mitroic to get in behind. Poor distribution did not help his side either.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Ahmed Elmohamady - 6 Played despite missing the second leg of the semi-final with a hamstring injury. Did well to deal with Sessegnon.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings James Chester - 5 Shown a yellow card in the eighth minute for a late, needless tackle on Mitrovic. Poor defending throughout.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings John Terry - 5 Beaten in the air on several occasions by Mitrovic. Was pulled out of position by Fulham’s fluid movement.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Alan Hutton - 3 Got caught ball watching which allowed Cairney to sneak behind him and open the scoring. Largely vacant at left back. A very poor performance.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Mile Jedinak - 5 Patrolled the middle and put in some robust challenges to break up play.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Robert Snodgrass - 5 Poor delivery from most set-pieces and a far from satisfactory final ball meant it was an unhappy return to Wembley for Snodgrass who was promoted with Hull in 2016.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Conor Hourihane - 5 Most the game bypassed the central midfielder. No influence.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Jack Grealish - 7 Almost scored on of the greatest solo goals you will see then almost got sent off. He wriggled through three challenges with sublime close control then forced a save at the near post. Anthony Taylor showed mercy when he chose yellow not red after Grealish left a nasty tackle on Cairney.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Albert Adomah - 5 Produced some good crosses but he is capable of better than what he showed.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Lewis Grabban - 5 Attempted to hold the ball up when Villa went long from the back. Some of his shielding was useful but Villa struggled to get numbers around him and therefore he proved ineffective.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Marcus Bettinell - 6 Had a some of tense moments when a couple of his passes out the back were intercepted but it was a mostly good performance by the goalkeeper.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Ryan Fredericks - 5 Perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after appearing to tread on Grealish when the Villa player was on the floor. Started to defensively struggle when Villa loaded his side of the pitch after the break.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Denis Odoi - 3 Booked in the first half for an unnecessary yellow card which came back to haunt him in the 70th minute when he brought down Grealish on the break. His red card left Fulham fighting to hold on for 20 minutes.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Tim Ream - 8 His play from the back and his command in defence was fantastic. No wonder the Fulham fans, who filled Wembley with shouts of ‘REAM’, love him.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Matt Targett - 6 Defended well and was very impressive going forward. The accuracy of his crosses to Mitrovic was problematic for Villa.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Tom Cairney - 8 Showed composure to tuck Sessegnon’s pass beneath the rushing goalkeeper to score sixth and most important goal of the season.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Kevin McDonald - 6 Industrious performance in central midfield without fireworks.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Stefan Johansen - 7 Some nice link up play to transition play from the middle to the attack.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aboubakar Kamara - 7 Had the better of Hutton but often fell short when providing quality with his final pass or shot. Improved as the game became more stretched and was useful on the counter attack.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aleksandar Mitrovic - 7 Mitovic’s link up play around the edge of the area made him very tricky for Terry or Chester to mark.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Ryan Sessegnon - 7 Drifted in from the left channel to find Cairney with a crafted through pass his captain would have been proud of producing himself.
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All the prize money on offer ultimately makes the Championship playoff final a more lucrative game than tonight’s Champions League final. The winner in Kiev receives an estimated £76.5m.
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