IT'S not so long ago that a football manager would have given his right arm to be in the UEFA Cup.

These days, however, even people like Graeme Souness, who are steeped in European tradition, look on the competition as more of a distraction than a bonus.

And unless the powers-that-be do something to make it more sexy then it could go the same way as the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup in the not too distant future.

Speak to the managers themselves and they'll give you an array of different reasons why being in Europe's second most prestigious competition can become more of a pain than a privilege.

Thursday night football, fixture congestion, and the lack of any decent financial incentives for winning it would appear fairly prominently at the top of most people's lists.

But my one big gripe with the competition in its present format is that virtually any Tom, Dick or Harry can qualify for it.

Take the current situation in the Premiership, for instance.

Going into the final two games of the season, Manchester City and Middlesbrough are both still sweating on possible places in Europe despite their mid-table positions as they await the outcome of the fair play tables in the Barclaycard Premiership and across the continent.

That's right, folks! While Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool contest the two remaining Champions League spots, and Rovers or Everton are set to qualify for the UEFA Cup along with Southampton, they could be joined by one other club in Europe next season.

When UEFA drew up their most recent fair play rankings in mid-February, England were at the top of their table and in line for one extra automatic place in the UEFA Cup.

That would go to the Premiership side with the best domestic fair play record, other than those teams who have already made it into Europe.

So with Manchester United, Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool in the lead, Kevin Keegan or Steve McClaren could therefore benefit from their teams being just in behind that quartet before last weekend's games.

And even if England lost their top spot, we could still be placed in a random draw with about seven other countries for two other UEFA Cup spots, which is how Ipswich qualified for Europe last season.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fair play in the game but giving away places willy nilly like this only serves to devalue the competition and the Ipswich scenario is a classic example.

Last season, the Tractor Boys got relegated from the Premiership, which meant they were forced to sell a number of their best players and yet they ended up in the UEFA Cup as a mediocre First Division side with absolutely no chance of winning it.

As far as I'm concerned, that's a waste of a place.

Why not allocate more places based on league positions at the end of the season?

That way you get more quality teams in it, which would make it more competitive and, ultimately, more sexy.