Blackpool boss Ian Holloway says the youth team would have played in Europe – at least for the early rounds.
Ollie, who looks set to remain as manager at Bloomfield Road, reckons that it wouldn’t have been fair if the players came back into pre-season training a matter of weeks after relegation.
Fulham pipped the Seasiders to the fair play spot in the Europa League by 0.01 points.
But Holloway thinks that’s a good thing: “We couldn’t possibly have played in Europe because no-one could have asked these players to start playing again in two weeks. Our youth team would have had to go over.
‘And to me we wouldn’t have earned a place in Europe. We weren’t good enough to earn it on the pitch, so why should we get in just because we are a nice respectable bunch of lads? I didn’t want that.’
It does beg the question as to why the club applied for, and received, a UEFA licence if they had no intention of playing in Europe?
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Well said, Ollie!