algy

The title says it all. But neither competition is particularly highly rated, so what about combining them both, plus the teams in Welsh & Northern Irish top divisions. Early rounds regionalised to bring it down to something like 48 English, 12 Scottish, 2 Northern Irish, 2 Welsh, then a single legged, straight knockout competition. Maybe a gentlemans agreement that one UEFA Cup place is awarded to the winner from the appropriate national association's quota.

Arguably because all the Celtic leagues have top divisions of 12, you could just play either twice in the national League top flight and make up another 18 games per season in a divisions-of-10, cross border League. A bit like Brazil where teams play in the Brazilian national League and also regional leagues. I'm far from convinced there's any economic sense in it mind, but that's the direction i'd look in since it doesn't threaten the autonomy of any of the national associations.

The problem with any proposed cross border League involving Welsh clubs is that the ones who might be interested already play in a more lucrative cross-border league (the English pyramid). The remaining clubs were previously involved in a cross border league and decided it wasn't worth the effort, hence (one of the reasons) why the League of Wales was formed in 1992.

Definite "no", Super John McGinn's worth far more than that

Well, anyone who dies from the age of 76 and above will potentially have children in their 60s, and by the time you'd get to people in their mid 90s you'd be looking at most having children in their 60s, maybe 70s. A few (96ys+) could have children in their 80s.

Hardly Boh's fault tho was it? Was under the impression that they did say it'd be a problem beforehand and the SPFL told them they'd sort it out should it come to that.

SPFL win at sponsorship.

Well, if the Championship sides are entering at R3 with the 'foreign' teams - realistically R3 has to have 32 sides (16 would mean no qualifiers, 64 would mean 48 qualifiers which seems too large to justify 2 previous rounds) 6 foreign + 10 championship = 16 qualifiers (so 32 teams in R2) 8 foreign + 10 championship = 14 qualifiers (28 teams in R2) You'd assume 20 of those would be League 1/2 clubs, and they probably won't start in R1 - so that makes either 8 or 12 qualifiers - so 16 or 24 teams in R1. 12 of those will be colts, you'd think, taking it to 4 (top 2) or 12 (top 6) teams from the HL/LL. Adding another 'foreign' country would mean 24 teams in R2, 48 in R1, which might be plausible - 20 L1/2 sides + 12 colts + 6 HL + 6LL.

Heh, fair point. Kinda ruined my point eh?

I like how you're all saying Connah's Quay are arrogant and planning your trips in the 2nd qualifying round already. Absolute premier league standard hypocrisy. Anyways hope you all have a good trip down. For CQN, Wolves would be an amazing draw - can only imagine the pandemonium at the Belle Vue leg

I've not been as excited about a transfer since probably Savo. My reasoning's gone completely out of the window and I'm becoming increasingly convinced we'll be seeing UEFA Cup football again in 20/21 and - obviously - win the European Cup (again) in 2022. I know I'm completely deluded, but .. a Brazilian striker to replace our departed Brazilian-Scottish right back!

The Welsh teams will be TNS & Connah's Quay Nomads again next year, assuming it's 1st/2nd place as before.

The Welsh Premier League seem to think they'll still be involved for the next couple of seasons: https://wpl.cymru/news/Nathaniel-MG-Cup-winners-to-qualify-for-IRN-BRU-Cup-from-201920-season/116140/ Nathaniel MG Cup = Welsh League Cup. Assume it's to offer "European" football to the winners of that, since at the moment it's just the Welsh Cup winners + league placings that qualify for the UEFA Cup.

I love that programme cover ... it's weird in all the best ways

What's the ticket situation for the final? Have they gone on sale at Ross County yet? Not heard a peep from Connah's Quay Nomads ...

Ha, hold it in Inverness to maximise attendance? Imagine some Scottish side - Hibs or someone - played West Ham in the UEFA Cup, and I (an Englishman) told you that both legs should take place in London to maximise attendance .... I’d be called out as a condescending English p***k in no time. Rightly so. Now look at it this way for you it’s a diddy cup final where the Scottish side are firm favourites. For Connah’s Quay it’s probably the biggest day in the club’s history and is likely to remain that way for a very long time, regardless of the result. Who cares they’re not that big by Scottish Championship standards? Let folks have their day in the sun. One of the best moments I’ve had at any football game was seeing the Dumbarton fans at last years semi final. I’ve been to a few semi finals supporting my club, Aston Villa, and you could tell they were having the same sort of day as I did then, it was magic. Great fans, that Dumbarton lot were. Anyroad, just saying that maybe football would be better if we considered all clubs big and small , not just chased £££

Not been to Burnley for a while, but from memory - similar vibes, but Connah's Quay doesn't have that 'bustling metropolis' feel as it's about 1/5th of the size. Don't go up to CQ very often, but the Wetherspoons by Shotton railway station is alright. Nothing spectacular, but I'll happily go for a drink there. Bit of a pre-warning ... there's no bar at the ground. Best of luck & good journey down from the Burgh

Well, it's a combination of things. Football isn't as popular as rugby, particularly outside the big towns. The big clubs (Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City, Newport County, and to a lesser extent Merthyr Town & Colwyn Bay) play in the English league structure. Travel is difficult and expensive, so some larger teams deliberately avoid getting promoted (by not applying for promotion) to avoid the associated travel costs. My dad's local club get attendances around about the same size as TNS, maybe slightly higher, but can usually be found around the 4th tier (give or take a level) because of that exact reason. For Premier League clubs, the need to be UEFA-licensed is a massive financial burden - UEFA require a level of infrastructure that's completely unrealistic for many clubs. Both of those add up to being that the teams in the WPL are the ones who've got a local sugar daddy who's willing to pay the bills. It isn't necessarily going to be the teams with the biggest support.

Yeah, S4C will be showing it. Going to try to make it up, tbh was hoping for either yous or Edinburgh City away cos I fancy a night out ...

You'd hope that a third tournament would be for the perennial out-of-Europe-by-August teams, like the Welsh/Icelandic/Maltese sides (and Rangers ;)). Maybe something like teams knocked out in 1st/2nd Champions League qualifying rounds, or 1st-3rd qualifying rounds of the UEFA Cup - plus reduce the number of Europa League places for those countries, and swap them for places in the "3rd cup". (So, in Wales' case, maybe 1 Champions League + 2 Europa League + 1 "Third Cup" places). Arguably somewhere like Scotland might keep the current CL/EL places but have an extra 'Third Cup' place. Hopefully it won't be some kind of cynical way to give mid-table sides from the English + Spanish leagues the "opportunity" of fighting it out to play sides not-quite-good-enough to get past the Europa League group stage. I imagine that'd be more profitable, though ...

I agree with you, hope it is expanded - but that might be a step too far IMO. Maybe 4 Welsh/Northern Irish sides would work at a push, but you'd perhaps have limited interest once a side's making their third trip down to Wales that season to play some amateur/university side. Glad of the Welsh sides being in it, though - it's really good for the game here, can see it allowing the game to improve substantially in the long term. Just on that basis, it's a really superb gesture from the Scottish league to invite the Welsh clubs. Imagine the same can be said from our Irish cousins.

They must know that's a pipe dream at best, surely? Can't see many clubs voting to drop out of the league just so the OF can bring a load of policing problems, given the recent track record. The premier league is a global 'brand' now, and for better or worse (aka worse) they don't bring that much to the table - the fans they'd bring are of naught compared to the £80m+ West Bromwich received for finishing bottom. It might be a model for allowing Scottish teams to enter the FA Cup again. That could work really well, as one off matches against exotic opponents.

High status? Not sure what the wording is. Anyway, so the top teams in those leagues would put out reasonably strong sides, and it's seen as a high profile competition for teams in those leagues.

If it were me.... sack the colts & English teams out of it. The colts devalue the competition. Less anti English non-league sides, but leaving them out makes it easier to have a sensible format ... Regionalised matches in brackets. League teams entering at 1st round split with 14 in one regional group and 16 in the other, depending on whatever's the most geographically convenient. Preliminary round - (16x Highland League teams) +(16x Lowland League) + (12 Welsh Premier League) + (12 RoI Premier League) + (12 NI Premier League) 1st Round - (8 Highland League winners + 14/16 Scottish league) + (8 Lowland League winners + 14/16 Scottish League) + (6 Welsh winners) + (6 RoI winners) + (6 NI winners) 2nd Round - 11/12 North Scotland winners + 11/12 South Scotland winners + 3 Welsh winners + 3 RoI winners + 3 NI winners 3rd Round - ... The Scottish League sides play the same number of fixtures that they do currently All Highland & Lowland league teams enter Acts as a top-level competition for teams from Wales, Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland

The top divisions in Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland are, with the odd exception, semi-pro leagues. It sort of makes sense that you'd go for the English 5th tier too, since that's the highest tier that you find semi-pro clubs playing in England. So, I'd take it that it's just the best semi-pro teams from the UK & Ireland being invited to play in a competition that's competed between (mostly) semi-pro Scottish clubs. I think it's a brilliant idea myself. You couldn't create a competition along those lines from scratch, it just wouldn't get the interest or traction in an already crowded fixture list. But, as an extension on to an existing competition, it's brilliant. I think it could work brilliantly as a kind of semi-pro, UK-focused equivalent of the UEFA Cup. I'd be inclined to say that it might be more sensible to invite the FA Trophy winners rather than the 3rd best team in the Conference, but that's by-the-by. It's still a good idea.