ALTRINCHAM have been guaranteed a five-figure windfall after former Robins midfielder Ian Craney completed a permanent move to Swansea City this week.

The 24-year-old joined the League One promotion candidates from Accrington Stanley in a deal worth £150,000 after completing a successful loan spell.

And Alty are entitled to 50 per cent of that fee thanks to a sell-on clause inserted in the deal that took Craney from Moss Lane to Stanley back in June 2004.

As a result of the windfall, Alty will have made more than £90,000 from the sale of Craney, having already recouped a transfer fee of £17,500 from Accrington.

The Robins are likely to receive the money in instalments, although details of the transfer have not yet been made avaialble.

Club vice chairman Grahame Rowley said the windfall would be a welcome boost in helping to finally pay off Alty's historic debts.

"I'm really pleased for the player himself," he told SAM Sport.

"He was a young lad who came to us from Sunday League football and when he first came here he probably wasn't quite up to the physical demands of football.

"But over the years we watched him develop into a commanding midfield player and we always knew he would go on to play at a much higher level.

"He is a credit to the club and it's nice that one of the first things he did after the Swansea deal had been completed was to phone us up to tell us how pleased he was that we would benefit from the deal.

"This money will help stabilise the club even more.

"Over the last four years we have worked hard to achieve that. The VAT bill was paid off and the Inland Revenue bill should be paid by July this year.

"This windfall won't mean a massive injection into the playing squad unfortunately, but it will help put us back on a level footing. We can pay off more of our debts and put ourselves into a good position to move forward.

"Once that is achieved we can start looking at improving the ground and facilities at the club and then maybe allowing Graham a little bit extra to improve the playing staff."

Craney made his Altrincham debut against Emley on September 9, 2000, going on to play more than 200 games for the club and scoring 40 goals in the process.

In October 2002 he made his debut for the England semi-professional side against Belgium and finished both the 2002/03 and the 2003/04 seasons as the club's player of the year.

The sell-on fee received for Craney smashes Alty's previous record transfer fee received, which was the £50,000 Leicester City paid for Kevin Ellison in 2001.