The beaten Scottish Cup finalists will no longer be able to sneak into Europe if the winners are already there........Door Closes

Have to agree with this. Effectively Fort William coud play in europe under present system. It woud also give more incentive to finishing in top 4 of SPL

Dont talk wet alex............not even Ft William could get into europe without winning at least one game :blah01:

Loads of things are possible SMEE...........Wick 4th in HL

IMO, this decision is about nothing more than protecting the income for the bigger teams and ensuring them European income.

As for his comments about teams outside the OF damaging our game...I think he needs to be looking a bit closer to home to see where the damage has/is being done.  Perhaps if he concentrated a bit more on improving things on his own doorstep and giving our whole game in this country a lift then we'd all be better prepared to perform on the European stage.

The incentive of a realistic chance to play in Europe should be there for ALL teams in any given country.  If they want to scrap giving the place directly to the cup runner-up then they should at least allow that team the opportunity of a play-off against the other contenders.

We have 2 Champions League and 2 UEFA Cup Places - the CL places go to the top two in the SPL and the other 2 places got to a play off between the 2 cup winners (or runners up if winner has already qualified), 3rd & 4th in the SPL.

I actually agree with him !!!

The best sides from any country should compete in Europe and not sides who may have had the luck of the draw in getting to the SC Final !

Look at Gretna in 2005 - Preston Athletic, Cove Rangers, St Johnstone, Clyde, St Mirren, Dundee .... and then Hearts in the final ! not a single SPL side on the way there, not any ties where it might be thought to be "un-winnable". At least Dunfermline last year had to play well in putting out Rangers, Hearts & Hibs

The simple fact is that the better the sides do, the higher our co-efficient gets and the more teams may qualify in future and that will benefit more teams than just the OF.

I'm sad - there was always an outside chance of seeing Caley in europe, it's less likely we'll see that now (although maybe we should be concerned with staying up at the moment).

gretnas run could be repeated by anybody, thats the beauty of the cup, its all in the draw

the fact they then went on to get hosed on by stephen kenny in the first round shouldnt matter a sh1te, they earned the right to be there as scotlands cup representatives

remember scotty, not too long ago we were a goal or two away from playing in europe by the same mechanism, its disappointing to hear we wont be in that position again

Fourth place in the league or fifth for Intertoto is well within our grasp. The cup route is always a more difficult option

I don't see any unfairness in this move, the cup winners still qualify. What better incentive could there be to stuff one of the Old Firm at Hampden ?

Our co-efficient will never improve until such time as the SFA, SFL and SPL stop with the self protectionist bull5hit and start looking at improving things for all teams so even thinking about it at present is academic.

Even if we were to improve the co-efficient, do you think for one second these same people would change the system back to open up the chances for other teams?  This is the thin end of the wedge in keeping Euro places for the big boys at the expense of allowing the smaller guys the dream and hope of getting a shot.

For many of the middle to lower SPL teams and even 1st Div teams this was the one real thing to play for during the season and it's been taken away for what is, if you really think about it, very little gain in the grand scheme of things.

It wasn't all that long ago that Scotland had 6 or 7 Euro spots .... a team in the (true) Champions Cup, a team in the cup winners cup, and 4 or 5 teams in the UEFA Cup and I see no reason for that not to happen again but it will only happen if teams get beyond the first round and don't lose to second division Swedish sides or get hammered by mediocre Irish sides. If that means we have to look at the qualification mechanism then so be it.

If we want to make the "diddy" cups worthwhile again, or leave some form of dream in place for teams outside the SPL then lets do something internally where a European spot is up for grabs. A playoff between finalists in the cups who don't automatically qualify and the last placed potential European qualifier(s) in the SPL or something like that..... but to let the luck of the draw decide who will represent the country in European competition and potentially affect how many places we get in a future year is wrong in my mind.

That seems far too sensible an idea Scotty to appeal to the SFA. I believe that we have to try to ensure that we're represented by our strongest teams in Europe and sadly that is seldom likely to be the runner up in the cup final

Scotty, that's what I said below - I don't mind it being tightened up a little, but to remove the opportunity altogether is simply wrong in my book.

Also, if you look at the days when we had more teams competing in Europe, it was teams at all levels and not just the premier league elite.  That is the issue the SFA should be dealing with.  They are charged with looking after the game in this country, and how we are perceived in Europe should be secondary to that instead of the driving factor in trying to come up with temporary fixes which will only serve to further damage the domestic game.

As much as I agree that Scotland should be represented in Europe by the Premier Teams, I upset at the way the Scottish Cup is slowly but surely losing it's magic.

Have to say that I fully agree with the decision. The Scottish Cup has lost its appeal to the likes of the OF but it is still THE trophy to win fer the rest. Never mind, Beachcomber - I am shure that if Nairn win it the blow of not playing in Europe may not be too heavy.  :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

[quote author=Alex MacLeod link=topic=4819.msg75044#msg75044 date=1189958086]

Effectively Fort William coud play in europe under present system.

Aye right Alex. They'll have to persuade Spartans to turn up with 9 men first  :016:

Have to say that I fully agree with the decision. The Scottish Cup has lost its appeal to the likes of the OF but it is still THE trophy to win fer the rest. Never mind, Beachcomber - I am shure that if Nairn win it the blow of not playing in Europe may not be too heavy.  :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Ya silly ould besterd - if Nairn win it we will play in Europe. 

As I said on another thread - roll on Nairn County v ICT at Station Park 

what were the words again ......."In your Ferry Slums"...:001: