IT'S a shame Michel Platini's bold plan to shake up the Champions League bit the dust earlier this week.

The forward-thinking UEFA president wanted to sex things up by allowing domestic cup winners to qualify for the tournament, in the belief that such a move would bring more romance' to Europe's premier competition.

However, facing strong opposition from the continent's most powerful clubs, Platini reluctantly had to ditch that proposal in return for securing a deal where, from 2009, six spots in the group stage are reserved for league champions from the bottom 40 countries in Europe.

I, personally, feel giving a Champions League place to the domestic cup winners would have been a positive step for the good of the game.

At the moment, the Champions League is something of a closed shop, certainly as far as the Premiership is concerned, because, invariably, the same four clubs always qualify, season after season.

Just look at the league table as it stands today. The usual suspects - Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool - are already occupying four of the top five places in the league, and we haven't even got to December yet.

If one of English football's four Champions League places was given to the FA Cup winners, then suddenly clubs like Blackburn would have an extra glimmer of hope.

I know some will argue you only have to win six games to lift the Cup, and some of those could be against weak opposition from the lower leagues, whereas the top four are decided over 38 league games.

But if we really want to make the game more competitive, then it might need something radical to break the top four's monopoly.

Under the current system, the rich are just getting richer, which makes it more and more difficult for the rest to keep pace.

In the past, a salary cap has been mooted as a way of creating a more level playing field, but I honestly can't see that ever happening in football.

People have also talked about looking at ways of distributing the money more evenly between the 20 member clubs, but I can't really see that working either.

If you take more off the teams at the top to give to the teams in the middle of the table, then there's less of an incentive to finish as high up as possible.

I guess it's ultimately down to teams like Rovers to try to break the big four's monopoly through their performances on the pitch.

Everton have proved in the past that it can be done but, as United showed on Sunday, the teams at the top have such strength in depth these days, it's becoming harder and harder to mount a sustained challenge.

United had quality all over the park - and that was without the injured Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney!

That said, I thought Rovers did well on the whole on Sunday, apart from two mad minutes in the first half when they lost concentration.

They must now put that behind them and embark on another long unbeaten run, starting at Fulham on Sunday week.