THE numbers have both come up … and they add up to a historic windfall for Albion Rovers.

Chief executive Frank Meade has hailed his club's pairing with Rangers in the quarter-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup as a "pools win".

But the retired accountant insisted: ''We deserve it.''

He praised the management and players of the club who have progressed to this stage of the cup for the first time in 80 years by defeating Motherwell and then Stenhousemuir.

And now he has to look forward to the biggest day in the club's history when they travel to Ibrox on March 8 or 9.

"To go to Ibrox is brilliant because usually when we get a good result we invariably end up with subsequently getting the wrong end of the draw," said Meade who has supported Rovers all his life.

"So it is wonderful to be paired with Rangers. We will have talks with them over the pricing policy so it is impossible to say precisely what we will draw from the game in terms of proceeds except to say that it will be a six-figure sum," said the chief executive who has been on the board for nine years.

He added : "It could be a substantial six-figure sum too if we are a televised game. The Sky game apparently delivers £85,000 but I do not know what the BBC sum is.

"Three of the games will be televised and I believe it is reasonable to suppose that the Rangers match will be one of them."

The potential revenue is the stuff of dreams for Rovers and their hard-working board..

"Our normal turnover for a game is about £5000-6000 with about 400 paying spectators so you can see how much the Rangers game could mean to us," said Meade.

The club has known hard times so the draw has given the glimpse of a brighter future.

"We have had to make some difficult decisions just to keep professional football in the town," said Meade.

Rovers boss James Ward said: "It is an absolutely fantastic draw for us. We thought that Albion Rovers would be the side to miss out as Rangers work their way through the leagues after they were promoted last season and we were relegated.

"Fate stepped in and gave us the Ramsdens Cup tie which Rangers won 4-0 and now it has stepped in again and given us a Scottish Cup meeting as well."

Meanwhile, Rangers have been made 11/4 favourites to lift the William Hill Scottish Cup by McBookie.com, followed by Aberdeen at 3/1.