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SPL against Platini's new CL proposal
Scotland - 19 September, 2007
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Scottish Premier League chairman, Lex Gold, said under UEFA president Michel Platini's new proposal, Scottish football would suffer and many of the countries best players would miss out on the experience of playing for the Champions League.
Gordon Strachan, manager of Celtic, agreed with Gold.
Platini wants each country to reserve one of its Champions League places for the winners of its national cup competition.
Scotland's national team is trying to qualify for EURO 2008 but could be negatively affected by the proposal if it has to hand over one of the country's two places to the Tennent's Scottish Cup holders.
"He is damaging our prospects," Gold told BBC ONE's Inside Sport.
"The higher the level players play at, the greater their experience, and the greater their experience, (the more it) benefits our nation and helps our country.
"We are a country of five million people and we want to see our players get the highest level of experience."
"Our top clubs have got very good experience in Europe and that is feeding through to our national game."
"I really don't see the benefit of teams who win an FA Cup or Scottish Cup (entering the Champions League)," said Strachan.
"It could have been Gretna a couple of years ago. No disrespect, but I don't think that's Scottish football at its best," he said, pointing out the cup finalists from 2005-2006 that was crowned Second Division champs.
"You can fluke a couple of results to get to a final. If you play in the Championship and you are second or first you deserve to be there and they deserve to be shown as the best of Scottish or English," he added.
For Scotland, the new arrangement would mean the league champions would qualify for the group stages automatically, but the second-place club would be replaced in the qualifying stages by the cup winners.
UEFA's executive committee was to make a decision on September 27 but that was postponed for a month after representatives asked for more time to present other proposals.
English clubs Liverpool and Manchester United have voiced opposition to Platini's plans.
Gordon Strachan, manager of Celtic, agreed with Gold.
Platini wants each country to reserve one of its Champions League places for the winners of its national cup competition.
Scotland's national team is trying to qualify for EURO 2008 but could be negatively affected by the proposal if it has to hand over one of the country's two places to the Tennent's Scottish Cup holders.
"He is damaging our prospects," Gold told BBC ONE's Inside Sport.
"The higher the level players play at, the greater their experience, and the greater their experience, (the more it) benefits our nation and helps our country.
"We are a country of five million people and we want to see our players get the highest level of experience."
"Our top clubs have got very good experience in Europe and that is feeding through to our national game."
"I really don't see the benefit of teams who win an FA Cup or Scottish Cup (entering the Champions League)," said Strachan.
"It could have been Gretna a couple of years ago. No disrespect, but I don't think that's Scottish football at its best," he said, pointing out the cup finalists from 2005-2006 that was crowned Second Division champs.
"You can fluke a couple of results to get to a final. If you play in the Championship and you are second or first you deserve to be there and they deserve to be shown as the best of Scottish or English," he added.
For Scotland, the new arrangement would mean the league champions would qualify for the group stages automatically, but the second-place club would be replaced in the qualifying stages by the cup winners.
UEFA's executive committee was to make a decision on September 27 but that was postponed for a month after representatives asked for more time to present other proposals.
English clubs Liverpool and Manchester United have voiced opposition to Platini's plans.
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