For the first time in five seasons the champions of Wales won a Champions League tie this year, The New Saints beating B36 of the Faroe Islands 6-2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round.

That was as good as it got though, but up against Hungarian champions Videoton in the second qualifying round it took extra-time in the second leg in Hungary to split the sides. Videoton going through 2-1 after the tie had ended 1-1 in normal time over both legs.

But it wasn’t really much of an improvement on the previous four seasons as it meant another second-round exit… just that in 2015-16 TNS came in a round earlier than in the other four campaigns.

Still… the Saints pushed the Hungarian champions close. And the year before weren’t outclassed by Slovan Bratislava, who can boast a decent European pedigree and were Slovakian champions.

The New Saints were also Wales’ representative in 2013-14, falling to Polish champions Legia Warsaw, who almost made the group stages losing to Steaua Bucharest of Romania in the play-offs.

The year before the Saints held Swedish champions Helsingborgs 0-0 at home before going out 3-0 after a disappointing second leg.

So after five seasons of European competition the Saints aren’t really letting Wales down, they’re just not getting enough opportunities to test themselves against Europe’s top sides.

Going back as far as 2001-02 Barry Town beat Shamkir of Azerbaijan 3-0 in a first qualifying round tie to book a date with FC Porto in the next round.

Barry lost the tie 9-3 on aggregate, but that result doesn’t tell the whole story as they beat the Portuguese giants 3-1 at home, just the 8-0 drubbing in Portugal meant Porto weren’t really up for the second leg.

In 2005-06 the Saints had a crack at Liverpool, losing both legs 3-0 to go out 6-0 on aggregate, and in 2010-11 they beat Northern Ireland champions Bohemians 4-1 in the second qualifying round before losing to Belgian high-flyers Anderlecht 6-1 a round later.

So what do we learn from this… well Wales’ top side doesn’t get the exposure to top level football it needs to take it to the next level. The same story applies to sides from Northern Ireland, and even Scottish champions Celtic will have to negotiate a tough test against Swedish champions Malmo to progress to this season’s group stages.

We all know the English champions and the Premier League’s other representatives are among the favourites each year to lift the trophy and they travel all over the world to play in lucrative but meaningless pre-season competitions, while the top sides from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland get down to the serious business of trying to progress on the biggest stage they can.

So instead of playing New York Red Bulls, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona why don’t the English champions prove that they are the best team in Britain before they embark on Champions League football by helping the teams from the other home nations lift their game in a competition that could really capture the imagination of fans at home. Celtic against Chelsea at Hampden Park, that’s got to be more of a TV draw than Chelsea against New York Red Bulls in New Jersey.

And for the champions of Wales and Northern Ireland it’s twice the exposure to top European football that they currently experience… who knows, maybe even three times the exposure and the confidence boost of calling themselves British champions!

So next year Sky, how about it? Find a pre-season slot for two matches… seed the draw to keep the champions of England and Scotland apart, and give the champions of Wales and Northern Ireland the opportunity to increase their exposure to competition at the highest level. Surely it’s a winner!