Chris Sutton has been told that there is ‘no justification’ for Rangers to be handed a Champions League pass should they win the Europa League.
Rangers are in the last eight of the Europa League with the second leg of their quarter final clash with Athletic Club neatly poised after a 0-0 draw at Ibrox.
But if Rangers can do the unthinkable and lift this season’s Europa League trophy in Bilbao, they will earn automatic qualification for the Champions League.
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton was speaking to Daily Mail journalist Ian Ladyman on the It’s All Kicking Off podcast.
And Ladyman reckons that this season’s Europa League winners should not earn a free pass to the Champions League group stages.
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Champions League qualification for Europa League winners ‘fundamentally wrong’
Ian Ladyman has described that free pass to the Champions League for the Europa League winners as ‘elitism in its dirtiest form’.
Referring more specifically to underachieving Premier League clubs being afforded the opportunity to reach European football’s elite competition, Ladyman reckons such a get out of jail card is ‘fundamentally wrong’.
It comes with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United eyeing a place in the Europa League semi-finals this week.
”It’s elitism in its purest and dirtiest form,” Ladyman told Sutton. “If you win the Europa League this season you go straight into next season’s Champions League.
“You don’t even go into the qualifiers, you go into the group stage and I think that is fundamentally wrong and unfair.
“I’m talking specifically about clubs like Brighton and Brentford and Fulham.
”To start chipping away at that glass ceiling that we know has been there in the Premier League for so long, only to find one of the game’s traditional elite clubs has got a route into the Champions League.
”Tottenham and United have bombed in the league, there should be no reward. It’s a kick in the n—- for teams who are progressing in the Premier League.
“There’s no justification at all for a Europa League winning club to be handed a free pass and all the money that comes with it into European football’s elite competition.”
Chris Sutton launches surprise defence of Rangers and other Europa League sides
Normally you’d expect Chris Sutton to side with anything which might plant a dig on Rangers.
After all, it’s only a matter of days since Sutton branded the Rangers staff ‘pathetic’ for celebrating a late equaliser against Aberdeen.
But to the former Celtic striker’s credit, Sutton insists that every team who is in the Europa League has ‘earned the right’ to compete for prizes.
This includes the attraction of a spot in the Champions League next season.
”It doesn’t matter,” Sutton said. “Because whether they’re traditional and elite, they earned the right to play in the Europa League last season.
”They earned the right to play in the competition and the way the competition works out, it’s not Tottenham and Manchester United’s fault.
”And if they do get over the line, you know, you don’t like it, but it’s the same across Europe, it’s just the way it is.”
