Anyone questioning the wisdom of Albion manager Chris Hughton and Crystal Palace counterpart Roy Hodgson fielding weakened teams against each other in the FA Cup need only consider the financial implications of relegation.

It is not hard to see why Hughton has one eye on Saturday's key trip to West Brom, Hodgson to Burnley's visit to Selhurst Park.

The arch-rivals would suffer a severe blow in monetary terms by returning to the Championship.

It would be cushioned by parachute payments - Burnley for example received £26 million when they went down two seasons ago.

The compensation soars to £41 million this season as a result of the latest lucrative TV deal, but Albion's accounts last season emphasise how hard it is in the second tier to balance sensible housekeeping with playing ambitions.

The headline loss figure, an eye-watering £38.9 million, was well up on £25.9 million the season before, when they just missed out on promotion.

This was in spite of revenue expanding by almost 20 per cent from £24.6 million to a record £29.2 million.

While administrative and operational costs were cut, the football budget increased by £22 million since 2012.

No wonder owner-chairman Tony Bloom (below) was jumping for joy when his calculated gamble paid off with promotion last April.

The Argus: Sunderland's share of the Premier League TV deal, even for finishing bottom last season, was £93 million. Most Championship clubs received £6.6 million.

Bloom resisted the temptation to cash in on big offers for Lewis Dunk, Anthony Knockaert and Dale Stephens following Albion's near-miss in 2015-16.

Albion's gross transfer spend has spiralled in the last two years, but most of Bloom's astonishing overall investment of £279 million is in interest-free loans for the Amex, the training complex in Lancing and to cover the losses.

Albion would not only be in a much worse situation financially if relegated, they would also be worse off in playing terms than last season, when they retained a settled squad.

Dunk and defensive partner Shane Duffy would be targets for Premier League clubs, together with Stephens and possibly Knockaert, Jose Izquierdo, Davy Propper and Solly March.

An awful lot is at stake over the remaining 16 games.