Hutton wants Euro spot for League Cup

[A face]

Hutton wants Euro spot for League Cup

Derry City’s Peter Hutton believes that the Inter-Toto Cup place awarded to the third placed team in the eircom Premier Division should in fact be given to the winners of the League Cup.

Hutton has enjoyed great League Cup success during his career and is looking forward to another semi-final this Tuesday, when his club take on Longford Town in Flancare Park. So far the competition has yet to capture the imagination of the paying public with most clubs fielding weakened teams in the games to date, something that Hutton believes would come to an end if a place in Europe were up for grabs.

“It would definitely give the League Cup a bit more credibility and a certain amount of prestige which is missing at the moment,” claimed Hutton.

“A lot of clubs treat it as a nothing competition because there’s only two cup competitions for us each season.

“The League Cup needs a spark to reinvent itself. Perhaps the timing of it could be looked at too but giving it some European status would be a real boost.”


www.eleven-a-side.com (http://www.eleven-a-side.com/premier/story.asp?newsid=6282)

[Estar]

I'm sure everyone in Div 1 would agree with Hutton.

[pete]

I don't think a euro spot should be given to the outright winner but as suggested before might entitle them to a playoff versus 4th place in the Premier League or something. Would probably mean the regional draws would have to be done away with.

Last thing the eL needs is a First division team representing us in europe.

[Shelsman]

Originally posted by pete
Last thing the eL needs is a First division team representing us in europe.

Agreed.

Just look at when Bray got relegated but won the FAI Cup. They played in Europe the following season when they were in Div1 ( and had also lost a lot of their best players ).

The best Irish Teams ( over the course of a league season, not a cup run ) should play in Europe.

Div1 teams can get into Europe via the FAI Cup as it is anyway.

[Schumi]

The inter-toto place should stay at 3rd in the league (or 4th if someone does the double). We've had two strong teams play in it this year and last year and got good results and that should be continued rather than having whatever team cares most about the league cup playing in Europe.

[Shelsman]

Having all that said I would like to see the League Cup get a bigger profile, but it does serve a useful function in giving fringe players a run.