More losers in Europe?

It's not often I take heed of anything Craig Brown has to say, but his ire at the decision to allow the losing Scottish Cup finalists into Europe got me thinking.

I'm a bit hazy on the ins-and-outs of the UEFA rulebook, but as it stands this season (and remember this is a UEFA rule, not an SFA one, so for once we can't blame them) the losing Scottish Cup finalist goes into the Europa League, at the expense of the team in fifth place in the league if - and only if - either one of Raith or Ross County make it to the final.

Furthermore - and this is where Brown sits up and takes notice - this means that Hibernian, the team currently fifth, or possibly Motherwell, currently fourth but only a point ahead of Hibs will miss out. I think that's how it works anyway - like I said, it's all slightly Byzantine in complexity.

The reason why Brown (and possibly John Hughes, Jim Jefferies and Mark McGhee) is complaining is that a team that qualifies for Europe on the basis of six games and a losing appearance in a final gets qualifying precedence over a team that plays 38 games, including games against the best teams in their division. It's hardly sending the best teams to represent us now, is it?

The other reason why this is not a good thing for Scottish football is that the teams that do qualify through this route generally don't make it very far, thus reducing our all-important UEFA coefficient, already officially lower than that of Belgium, even further.

In recent seasons Dunfermline, Queen of the South and Gretna (who managed to not play any SPL team until they lost to Hearts in the final) all made Europe, lasting all of 180 minutes as they went crashing out, along with our coefficient.

Aye, it's true, in recent seasons our SPL teams have not exactly set a high standard either in European competition (Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hibs and Hearts all crashing out early, and with neither Rangers or Celtic covered themselves in glory this season), but at least they 'earned' their place following a challenging league campaign.

Look, I'm all for the romance of the Cup and it's nice to believe that a plucky Ross County or Raith Rovers (who have played in Europe back in 1995, lasting two rounds before being eliminated by Bayern Munich) will fly the flag for Scotland in Europe next season assuming they beat Hibs or Celtic and Rangers or Dundee United respectively, but is that really good for the game? Or even fair?

I'm undecided on the issue.

On the one hand I think it's marvellous for the smaller clubs to even have a chance of getting into Europe, regardless of what they do. For teams like Dunfermline or Raith, currently eights points clear of a Division One relegation play-off, it's the only chance they'll have of something approximating glory (patronising tone unintended, but unavoidable).

But on the other hand, poor performances in Europe by poor teams only drag the chances of the team in the league down, with every passing year and every dropped percentage in the dreaded UEFA coefficient table meaning another European place possibly going to Bulgaria or the Czech Republic, the two leagues directly below us in the table.

With our league champions having to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League this season, and only the winners of the League from season 2011 onwards, a direct result of our falling coefficient, an already poor league in terms of quality and financial clout looks set to become poorer as it becomes harder for our teams to qualify for the money-generating rounds of Europe's major competition, the Champions League.

The reason why this is relevant is that for our fragile league we need our top teams in the later stages of European competition for the revenue it brings and the profile it raises for the game in Scotland. And a raised profile means sponsorship, television revenue and better players coming to our leagues, possibly. Admittedly, the revenue it generates will go straight to Parkhead and Ibrox, but the indirect benefits of a successful Old Firm in Europe is a stronger, more competitive and attractive SPL.

So, I'm in the "aye, but naw" camp. What about you lot? What do you think?