Gareth Southgate has already refused to play in this year's tournament and last season Claudio Ranieri's Chelsea players were so terrified at the prospect that they suddenly started winning games away from Stamford Bridge. Newcastle United did their best to fail to qualify for Europe, only to get a late invite to join those backward in coming forward. It seems there is no sentence that players in the Premiership dread more than: 'We have decided to enter the InterToto Cup this summer.'
The tournament is seen very differently in Georgia. As Southgate and thousands of his fellow pros booked their holidays and packed the suntan oil (or in the case of Newcastle's players, reluctantly unpacked it), the young players of WIT Georgia Tbilisi eagerly prepared for the biggest game of their season - a first-round InterToto Cup tie against Austrian side SV Ried. For the Georgians, the tournament is probably a once-in-a-career opportunity to play in Europe and so is a real moment to savour. It is also the chance to follow in the footsteps of the great Dinamo Tbilisi Cup Winners Cup-winning team of 1981.
Uefa, meanwhile, have tried to make the InterToto Cup more appetising by handing the winners a place in the Uefa Cup. But even that prospect, can't glamorise WIT's first-round game against Ried at the Boris Paichadze National Stadium in Tbilisi. WIT have been banned from playing European games at their own 3,000-capacity 'stadium', as nearly all of the wooden seating has fallen apart and the pitch is so bad that an English pub team would refuse to play on it. There is also no electricity in the changing rooms, although the groundsman, sporting a white Liverpool away shirt, promises that the facilities will be renovated for the start of the new season.
The Boris Paichadze stadium, meanwhile, is of the Soviet Block school of architecture - leaving you in no doubt that you are in the heart of Eastern Europe. In keeping with 1960s fashion, it is a concrete monstrosity built to hold more than 65,000 loyal members of the proletariat. Truly awe-inspiring in its awfulness. To be greeted by this as you arrive at a game, it suddenly becomes clear why Southgate et al aren't falling over themselves to play in this tournament.
Who in their right mind would want to face 11 hyped-up, skilful Georgian players in a hostile stadium, in temperatures approaching 37 degrees? About 6,000 football-mad Georgians, up 5,700 on WIT's average crowd last season, have succumbed to the lure of European football and splashed out a pound each on a ticket. As the referee blows for the start of the match, the Austrians look totally bewildered while the WIT players charge around like madmen. 'We will meet them fully armed.' WIT president Guram Ruhadze had said before the match.
The Austrians were probably relieved that this promise was carried out only in the footballing sense. Ruhadze is a ruthless man with a Jésus Gil approach to man-management, having already ditched three coaches already this season. The new man, former Dinamo Batumi manager, Gianni Carnevale, is fully aware that a good European performance will mean job security.
But for all their early promise, WIT Georgia Tbilisi's European dream looks to have turned sour after a mere nine minutes. Defender Eduard Sajaia, a trialist at Dundee, pulls down Ried forward Muhammed Akaguenduz and is sent off. Carnevale's face contorts itself in frustration and the fans appear crushed. But what follows is a remarkable exhibition of dogged defending.
The Georgians, inspired by young goalkeeper Sergo Churadze, manage to stem Ried's attacking moves. The game is still goalless at half-time but after the restart, the stadium erupts when Alexander Gogoberishvili scores with a low free-kick. Carnevale jumps up and down with fists clenched high in the air, while the players celebrate as if they have just won the Champions League final.
One reason behind the WIT players' desperation to do well in Europe is the parlous state of Georgian football. It has not, even by Georgian standards, been a good year. The brother of AC Milan defender Kakha Kaladze has been kidnapped by terrorists in the north of the country and is still being held hostage. There have been the constant allegations of match-fixing and first-division side Sioni Bolnisi's season took a serious downturn when stand-in coach Tengiz Kublashvili was hospitalised after a violent confrontation with his club president.
The Georgian FA, meanwhile, is run by a man not unused to controversy. Recently, he even decided to appoint himself as national coach. WIT Georgia have also had their fair share of trouble, with player brawls and one of their league games cancelled after their opponents simply forgot all about it. So it is easy to see why the WIT players want to find a way out of the Georgian league by joining a western European club. They have all seen how, Derby's Georgi Kinkladze and Ajax's Shota Arveladze have found riches in the West.
In contrast, WIT's top players earn only £700 a month and it has been suggested that the season be played during the summer, as most of the players can't afford to go on holiday anyway. Against Ried, they certainly earned their paltry salary and hold out to win the game 1-0 despite playing with 10 men for 81 minutes. Afterwards, they were as heroes and, for once, treated like the stars they hope to become. WIT still have to win another five rounds of the InterToto Cup before they reach the holy grail of the Uefa Cup. Nevertheless their European dream remains very much alive.
