" Interesting.... "

Sorry if already posted before...But what do you guys think of this?

Initially I thought no. Pulling out of the FA and Carling Cup is too much to ask. But then again....if we did then in reality it would be us or Swansea winning the Welsh Cup every season therefore we'd be in Europe fairly often (I'm being optimistic)

I suppose the club will have to look at financial gain. Is playing 2 games in Europe more financially beneficial than reaching say the 5th round of an English cup?

Tbh I'm a bit undecided here.




" FAW seeks route into Europe for Cardiff and Swansea "

Cardiff City and Swansea City could be given the chance to qualify for Europe next season through the Welsh Cup.
Europe's governing body, Uefa, is considering a request from the Football Association of Wales to allow exiled clubs to represent Wales in European competitions.
But to do so, the clubs are likely to be forced to withdraw from the FA Cup and Football League Cup.
FAW chief Jonathan Ford: "There's going to have to be some compromise."
Ford added that the clubs would need make a decision at the start of the season on which route into Europe they choose.
Since 1995, only clubs from the Welsh league system have been eligible to represent Wales in Europe.
Welsh clubs playing in the English league pyramid - Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County, Colwyn Bay and Merthyr Tydfil - were barred by the FAW from entering the Welsh Cup 17 years ago after pressure from Uefa.
But the FAW invited the six Welsh clubs playing in the England to participate in this season's Welsh Cup.
Blue Square Bet Premier sides Newport and Wrexham along with Merthyr Town (formerly Merthyr Tydfil) of the Western Football League accepted the FAW's invitation.
Swansea City, Cardiff City and Blue Square Bet North side Colwyn Bay chose not to enter.
Before the ban came into force in 1995, Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham, Newport and Merthyr Tydfil all represented Wales in the old European Cup Winners' Cup through the Welsh Cup.
Those European ties created some of the most memorable matches in Welsh club football history.
FAW chief executive Ford is keen to see the exiled clubs return to the Welsh Cup but it is the issue of European qualification that has needed clarification.
Ford hopes a definite decision will be made son after Uefa's executive committee meets in Istanbul on 20 and 21 March.
Continue reading the main story
“
If the decision goes through it will mean those clubs that are in exile at the moment that play in the Welsh Cup, should they choose, ultimately would have a guaranteed route in to Europe
”
Jonathan Ford
Previous attempts by the FAW have failed, with Uefa stating teams could only take part in Europe through the competitions of one national association.
"I've had several meeting with Uefa on this," added Ford. "We have been working very hard with Uefa to find solutions here.
"It's something we've been debating for quite a while and something's that's going to their executive committee meeting in a couple of weeks from now.
"Last year we invited the exiles back in but of course their route into Europe was always going to be complicated.
"Uefa rulings state that you can't participate in two competitions in two different countries and a successful route in one or the other through to Europe.
"If the decision goes through it will mean those clubs that are in exile at the moment that play in the Welsh Cup, should they choose, ultimately would have a guaranteed route in to Europe.
"[It would be] a fantastic opportunity for Newport, Colwyn Bay even Swansea and Cardiff. Let's hope they may play in the Welsh Cup soon as well.
"Ultimately they would have choices to make. I don't think they would be allowed to play in both competitions. I think they may have to make a decision.
"But if they came back into the Welsh Cup they would have a guaranteed place should they win the competition."
Meanwhile, Ford revealed that had Cardiff won the Carling Cup they would have been eligible to compete in next season's Europa Cup as the English league's representatives.

If we opt to play in the Welsh FA cup, could'nt we stay in the league cup. Why should we have to pull out of two cup competitions to feature in one.

I'd say there's far more money to be made in the English cups over getting in to the odd Euro game. The likes of TNS etc haven't made anything out of Europe have they, so what makes anyone think Cardiff and Swansea would be different.

Going in to Europe through the FAW just means you get to play a nobody in a Euro competition. It's not as if we get the chance to draw a top European club now is it. In fact there's no chance of getting to play a big name. Currently though in the Carling and FA Cup we get a real chance to feature against the big names with massive pay days.

If we were in the 4th division and had to go through the early rounds of the cup, then perhaps yes we'd be better off in the Welsh Cup, but certainly not when we are in the Championship or Premiership.

I don't know what the FAW got in mind for bringing this up now. Do they think that Cardiff and Swansea would progress further and so they'd get the kick back of pushing Wales up the rankings? Remembering that the world rankings are directly affected by your clubs and leagues etc.

I'm not going to knock them without being constructive. So what they need to worry about is improving the infrastructure of the Welsh leagues, which in turn would push Wales up the rankings. If you look at what England did with their leagues then you can see what they are higher in the rankings than they should be. When the FA invested millions getting every single club a decent official website, they did that for the infrastructure and to be fair it has paid off for them. They now know everything about every football fan in the UK and they know how to use that as well. If you look around the FAW club websites, they are to be fair embarrassing.

If you're looking at a purely financial point of view, here's what you could win..

According to UEFA the fixed payments for the 2010/2011 UEFA Europa League season were as follows:[17]
1st qualifying round: €90,000
2nd qualifying round: €90,000
3rd qualifying round: €90,000
Playoffs: €90,000
Group stage: €640,000
For each match in group stage: €60,000
Group match victory: €140,000
Group match draw: €70,000
Round of 32: €200,000
Round of 16: €300,000
Quarter-finals: €400,000
Semi-finals: €700,000
Losing Finalist: €2,000,000
Winning the Final: €3,000,000

From Wikipedia.

No, no, no, no, no, no. End of discussion.

I hate these cake and eat it scenarios. We are an English league club so we stay with all the English competitions.

While it would be good for the club to be in European competition for the exposure and possible financial rewards(the group stages shouldn't be that much of an ask to be honest) I think giving up the two English cups is a big ask.

Very interesting, but personally, no. In the past we did enjoy special status, ie FA Cup, League Cup, and Welsh Cup. Even though both the FA and League cups have lost a lot of their appeal, they are still worth entering. Things have moved on from those days. We are, basically, now an English club. If we had beaten Pompey or Liverpool we would have represented England in Europe. Welsh football is in a pretty much unique position. As long as we keep the national side, then let things be.

No, no, no, no, no, no. End of discussion.

I hate these cake and eat it scenarios. We are an English league club so we stay with all the English competitions.

This

Would rather we have a Cardiff City B team in the Welsh League, play at Lethwick or something and they can go in the Welsh Cup. Good place to blood youngsters.

I don't know what the FAW got in mind for bringing this up now. Do they think that Cardiff and Swansea would progress further and so they'd get the kick back of pushing Wales up the rankings? Remembering that the world rankings are directly affected by your clubs and leagues etc.

The FIFA world rankings are not affected by clubs/leagues. These are based purely on the national team's performances. The only thing that club performances affect is the number of european places a country gets and at what stage of the competitions they enter at.

going about this the wrong way.


platini already said that we would get access to europe if we won the FA Cup, we should be convincing UEFA to allow us clubs to qualify through the english system, not try to get back into the welsh system.

I don't know what the FAW got in mind for bringing this up now. Do they think that Cardiff and Swansea would progress further and so they'd get the kick back of pushing Wales up the rankings? Remembering that the world rankings are directly affected by your clubs and leagues etc.

The FIFA world rankings are not affected by clubs/leagues. These are based purely on the national team's performances. The only thing that club performances affect is the number of european places a country gets and at what stage of the competitions they enter at.

Yes of course but the foundation of any country's success is a strongly organised league and club structure. The point being that the FA have invested over time making sure they got their structure strong and it has paid off for them. In reality the English national team is shit ( ) but people got this idea that they are massive simply because of the English league and club structure. I don't think you'll find many high ranking countries with a poor club league structure to be fair. I think it's quite obvious that a countries success is driven from the league structure below it.

We would never be a big club or even a medium sized club doing this, it would be a disaster.

Why would we need to leave the League and FA Cups?

Surely we could sign an agreement that is sent to both the FAW & FA stating that we wish to qualify for Europe via the Welsh Cup instead of the FA Cup but still enter the FA Cup. We only have the one chance same as the other clubs, so it would be fair.