'Virtually impossible' for Welsh clubs to compete in Europe - Newtown boss Chris Hughes

Chris Hughes has been Newtown boss since 2013

Newtown manager Chris Hughes says it is "virtually impossible" for Cymru Premier sides to compete at European level.

Newtown were beaten 5-0 on aggregate by Dundalk in the Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

Hughes says greater investment is needed in the Welsh domestic game, while a switch to summer football, something that has been mentioned before, could help.

"It's all about levels," he said.

"You're asking my team, my bunch of players, to go up against a club who earned 4.5m euros in the group stages last year - they played Arsenal last year. Let's get that straight first.

"Then we are out of season and they are in season. It's virtually impossible to compete.

"I know people have spoken about it over the years and then it tends to get forgotten about.

"The domestic season starts and then we think about it again the next summer when the clubs don't do so well.

"Investment is needed. Whether it's a change to summer football I am not sure, but that would help I'm sure."

Newtown qualified for Europe for the first time in six years after winning the Cymru Premier play-off final in May.

But with their preparation hampered by Covid-19 issues which prevented them from training and saw a handful of players miss out, the Robins were beaten 4-0 in their first-leg meeting with Dundalk.

They lost the return 1-0 on Tuesday night.

"The differences between the two clubs are the investment, the prize money they generate and they keep investing," Hughes added.

"Their budget is far and away I would imagine [above] anything in our league. For anybody to compete with them would be very difficult.

"I don't know the answer. Is it more investment in clubs from the government, more support potentially? Is it summer football? It's a question no-one has had the answer to for a long time."