Sven wrote:Tony Blue Williams wrote:Sven wrote:I can describe what went wrong for semi and non-professional Welsh teams previously playing happily in the vastly superior and competitive English pyramid in two simple words...Alun and Evans
He oversaw the ruination of many teams ambitions to climb through the English Leagues (as they had done for so many years)
He saw the end of the path of Welsh Referees being able to reach the pinnacle of their trade in English professional football, which had been so graced by their Welsh predecessors, such as Clive 'The Book' Thomas, Keith Cooper, Roger Gifford, Howard King, John Lloyd, Jack Flye and others
He oversaw the end of The Welsh Cup as we knew it (ending ANY Welsh club's only realistic route into Europe at that time) and I also recall Welsh-based teams literally being bullied into joining the FAW or (as did Newport County) having to play their 'home' games over the border!
Even Sam Hammam (at one point) suggested our club could eventually join in and play in Europe every season!
UEFA would like nothing more than all the Welsh professional clubs to join the League of Wales; and having a 'Reserve Team' in there would help their cause and not ours!
Currently, longevity and precedent are what are keeping Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Wrexham in the English pyramid and with that in mind, they are all best staying away from the FAW and the League of Wales, if they now what what is best for their long-term English League futures
Even if done with the best of intentions by the 'pro' clubs, someone somewhere at the FAW or at UEFA will use it for their political ends...just as the guy mentioned at the top of this post did a few years ago!
I agree with just about all of that, but isn't there a possibility for a partnership/feeder agreement between say Barry/Cardiff, Cwmbran/Newport, TNS/Wrexham and Llanelli/Swansea in the same way Manchester United used to have a tie up with Royal Antwerp in Belgium where players were sent out on loan so they could progress?
By proxy Barry vs. Llanelli would become a Cardiff/Swansea game in the WPL and could possibly boost interest.
Tony, I'd love to think that would work in a similar fashion (to some extent, isn't that what we do currently with Vincent Tan's other clubs?) but I think that is different to having a City 'team' in the League of Wales
It also raises the question about the possibility of actually playing Tan's other clubs in some sort of arrangement, but sadly I simply don't trust either the FAW or UEFA and wouldn't want to enter anything without cast-iron guarantees written in stone!
It wasn't that long ago we had to sweat on a decision from The FA/UEFA regarding whether we could play 'on behalf of the English League' if we had won the FA Cup/League Cups OR finished runners-up to a team already qualified for Europe through another route, e.g. Champions League via a Top Four Premier League finish
im in a minority here but i dont want us involved im the welsh league in any capacity..
i am a Cardiff fan and this bunch had no problems in effectively kicking us out of the Welsh cup all dreaming of playing at the san siro..well its parks pitches in GIB so they can suck it up.
as for loaning out players. who exactly? huws O Keefe etc who would then be worth zero..or kids to be knocked about by journeymen .
agree with you mate.