Champions League plan can boost Welsh football

Jan 9 2008 by Paul Abbandonato, Western Mail

Paul Abbandonato argues the FAW’s bold plan to get teams from Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham into the Welsh Premier is the best thing that could happen, but that preserving their Football League status has to remain paramount

WELSH soccer never has a completely smooth ride, but who would have anticipated this political football bombshell to kick off 2008?

Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham should be permitted to field reserve sides in the Welsh Premier, says an FAW report, with five clubs currently in the league losing their places so it can be trimmed from 18 teams to 16.

The “big three” would invariably dominate the top positions, notwithstanding challenges from TNS and Llanelli, and thus secure the Champions League and Uefa Cup spots available.

Ronaldinho, in the colours of Barcelona at the Liberty Stadium? Kaka playing for AC Milan at Cardiff’s new ground?

It is a mouthwatering prospect, and still some way off, but one the FA of Wales are discussing in earnest.

The idea will be met by the majority of the Welsh Premier’s current clubs, when they meet today, with the enthusiasm Peter Ridsdale and a certain Sam Hammam hold for one another.

They will rebel, resist, insist it can’t happen and probably even threaten to break away on their own.

But this is not about 18 Welsh Premier clubs. It is about something that is for the good of Welsh football as a whole.

Which the idea certainly is.

As such, the author of the report commissioned by the FAW needs to be commended for having the vision, boldness and honesty in making his recommendation for much-needed change.

It is somewhat ironic that author is none other than Alun Evans, the former secretary of the FAW. He was the man who set up the League of Wales and who deserves credit for securing European places in the first place.

He is also the biggest backer of the league and the man who has been wheeled out by certain sections of the media to outline why, under Uefa rules, Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham cannot get back into Europe when provisional plans for them to do so have been devised in the past.

Thus, if Evans is saying this should happen – and as soon as the start of next season – then the proposal on the table needs to be viewed with real credibility.

The first thing that needs to be emphasised is that it is not the interests of certain Welsh Premier clubs that must be protected, but the rights of Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham to continue playing in the Football League.

The “big three” each have a vast army of followers who take a keen interest in the fortunes of their clubs week in, week out.

Nothing must be done to jeopardise the trio’s historic and unique position within the English league set-up.

But the FAW don’t see that as a problem. They believe Cardiff Swansea and Wrexham could put reserve teams in the Welsh Premier, and thus qualify for Europe when they would put out their first XIs, but still play their main week-to-week football in the Coca Cola League.

In other words, the big three would have their cake and eat it. But who is to deprive them of that, after the scandalous way they were kicked out of Europe in the first place?

Of course, it was a certain Mr Hammam, left, who first had this particular vision six years ago when he audaciously tried, but failed, to get Cardiff into the Champions League by buying out Cwmbran Town.

The FAW knocked back the idea at the time, after meeting the inevitable resistance from Welsh Premier clubs, using the easy get out of citing “rule one”.

That states that no reserve teams can play in the competition.

“Well change the damn rules then,” retorted an exasperated Hammam.

“And we don’t have a reserve team these days. We have a first team squad and pick and choose our players accordingly.”

Ah, but Uefa would frown upon the idea, countered the FAW. Or so the argument went.

Hammam and a two-man FAW delegation even travelled to Switzerland to meet Uefa chief Gerard Aigner, but, I’m told, were granted little more than a quick, informal chat on a sofa in a corridor.

Among the individuals who outlined why Hammam’s bold plan was a non-starter at the time was none other than Alun Evans.

However, he says in his official report to the FAW that Michel Platini’s elevation into the Uefa hot-seat in place of Aigner has changed everything.

Platini, it is known, is sympathetic to the European plight of Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham. This is the chance for the FAW to address it, Evans believes.

Since the big three were kicked out of the Welsh Cup, our results in Europe have, by and large, been an embarrassment.

Let’s, however, leave aside that age-old issue and analyse, instead, how the presence of teams from Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham would enhance the Welsh Premier.

Backers of the league are to be commended for their loyalty and their claims that significant strides have been made since the inaugural competition in 1992.

There is no bigger supporter than Evans. But even he appears to accept in his report that the perception of the league amongst the public at large is poor.

It is. The league has never caught on. That is not a criticism, just an honest statement of where we stand.

Crowds remain low, interest minimal, the playing standard below that of the equivalent league in Ireland.

Evans’ plan for change is radical. But it’s a damn good one.

Hammam once used Rob Earnshaw as an example of why his Cardiff-Cwmbran plan would help boost the league.

If Earnie, or any other leading player, was injured and needed a comeback game, he would play for the Bluebirds in the Welsh Premier. As would every one of the other big-name squad men who weren’t getting a first-team match on Saturday.

Their presence, and the very name of Cardiff City FC, would guarantee bigger newspaper and TV coverage for the league.

That in turn would generate more interest amongst the public, which would draw in bigger crowds, which would bring in better advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out the knock-on effect would improve the status of the league.

Who knows, Newport, Merthyr and Colwyn Bay may even be attracted to join. Would their presence next to Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham not produce a more vibrant brand which would have much greater appeal to the public?

Far from being threatened by such a prospect, go-ahead sides such as TNS, Llanelli, Port Talbot and Bangor could set their sights even higher to challenge the big guns.

We could actually end up with a thriving Welsh Premier league which is genuinely going places and generating positive publicity, as opposed to one which some people believe has been stuck in a rut.

And let’s look at the spin-offs after that. Just assume for a moment that Cardiff or Swansea won the league and were entered for the Champions League in 2009.

The money they would gain from just being in the qualifying stages would enable them to attract and buy better players which, in turn, would enhance their prospects of moving towards the Premiership.

They would have an infinitely better chance than the current Welsh sides of progressing through the Champions League qualifying rounds.

Should they reach the group stages, imagine the prospect of Dave Jones’ Bluebirds or Roberto Martinez’s Swans playing the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United, AC Milan or Bayern Munich.

OK, that’s dreamland scenario. But, with the strides the two Welsh giants have made this millennium, is it really that unfeasible?

Even if Cardiff or Swansea didn’t get that far, imagine a qualifying match against one of Europe’s lesser lights for a place in the group stages?

It would be a sell-out before a frenzied crowd, attracting oceans of publicity, rather than the sort of low-key affair we have had too often recently.

I have sympathy for Welsh Premier clubs who have spent money on ground improvements, only to suddenly face the prospect of being frozen out of the set-up.

But this is about the good of Welsh football as a whole, not about the interests of a few.

Evans has outlined a path for the way forward, although don’t expect Welsh Premier clubs to bite off his hand.

However, the FAW have the ultimate power in this. Guarantees need to be put in writing that the Football League positions of Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham won’t be affected.

If, as expected, that happens, the FAW have no option but to rubber-stamp and push through Evans’ proposal.

It is common sense ... best for the big three, best for Welsh football. And best for the Welsh Premier itself, too.