Bradford chairman: We would reject a Europa League place

Feb 23, 2013 12:40:00 PM

The club are set to clash with Swansea in the Capital Once Cup final with a place in Europe, as well as the trophy, up for grabs for the winner

Bradford City could be set to reject a place in the Europa League should they qualify by beating Swansea City in Sunday's Capital One Cup final.

The Bantams' co-chairman Mark Lawn has revealed that the West Yorkshire club would refuse to pay in order to play in the early stages of the Europa League, which consequently would mean forfeiting a potential place in Europe.

Lawn told The Sun: "I'm not going to pay to play in Europe.

"When we beat [Aston] Villa [in the semi-final], I was told, 'You don't really want to get into Europe - it costs you money in the early rounds'.

"I said, 'Well, that'll be fun because if it costs us money, we won't be there'.

"Realistically, it's not going to be a problem because I don't think we're going to win against Swansea."

He added: "I won't put us in fiscal danger to play in Europe. That's not going to happen. I'm deadly serious.

"It's all very well saying there are financial rewards once you get to the group stage, but we're a fourth division [League Two] club - realistically, we're not going to get there."

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