That is the frank assessment of Alun Evans, the League of Wales representative at the Football Association of Wales.

Following Barry Town's exit from the Champions League at the first hurdle on Wednesday, concerns have again been raised about the performance of League of Wales clubs in Europe.

Various clubs from the league have now played a total of 78 matches in European club competitions since 1993.

And Barry - who account for five of those seven wins - are the only club to progress through a round.

But there was such success this year as the Welsh champions lost 6-0 on aggregate to Skonto Riga of Latvia.

Evans believes that if the League of Wales season had already started by the time the European competitions come around - as in Scandinavia, for example - Welsh clubs would stand a better chance.

"We don't have the match fitness which is required for these competitions.

"Indeed we've seen English Premiership clubs Aston Villa and Fulham struggle in the Intertoto Cup this year to a greater extent than little Caersws did when they played in June."

Wales' big three clubs - Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham - who play in the English league system, have been barred from representing Wales in Europe since 1995.

Uefa, Europe's governing body, insisted that only teams playing in the national league could qualify.

Former Wales captain Kevin Ratcliffe believes they must be allowed back into the fold if otherwise the results will continue to be a humiliation.

But that, according to Evans, is simply not an option.

"We're putting the best clubs we're allowed to put in the competitions," he said.

"When Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham decided they wanted to play in the English system, Uefa said fine.

"But they could only qualify for Europe through the English competitions, if the English FA would allow it.

"We had no say in this. There is a common fallacy that the Welsh FA deliberately excluded them. We haven't.