Jersey FC: Craig Culkin prefers French league place for island side

Craig Culkin quit as Jersey boss after the Muratti loss to Guernsey in May

Ex-Jersey boss Craig Culkin would prefer an island side to play in the French league rather than in England.

Culkin chaired a meeting on Tuesday exploring options for creating an island side to play at a higher level.

"My preference based on logic, on finance, on exposure, on development, would be the French route," he said.

Culkin has since resigning as Jersey boss in May after a dispute with the Jersey Football Association.

Near-neighbours Guernsey set up Guernsey FC in 2011 and have won promotion to the Isthmian League Division One South in England.

Critics of a Jersey side playing in an off-island league say it would ruin the existing league set-up in the island.

"I think a Jersey team playing at any elite level, whether that be in England following in the footsteps of Guernsey FC, or the French leagues, would be well-supported," Culkin said.

"Would I not go down the English route? Absolutely not.

"But to make this happen it needs people to bring the business acumen, and investment and partners to the table to get the formation of this football club up and running.

"We can't go into any leagues if we have no money, no partners and no sponsors, so I don't want us to get lost in that."

Jersey's FA, which governs the sport in the island, is affiliated to the English Football Association, which could prove problematic for Culkin's hopes of joining a French league.

"It remains to be seen," Culkin told BBC Radio Jersey when asked how he would get around the problem of a team from one country playing in another country's league.

"These are all trivial things that will be looked at when a chairman or president steps up to the plate and explores all the options and possibilities.

"Tonight was a presentation on some of those options and the implications and considerations on local football."