Spurs' £9m Hutton can't play in UEFA Cup - and it's because Rangers are losers - Sport

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And it's all the Glasgow side's fault for losing.

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Rangers' ruse: Alan Hutton, then of the Ibrox side, fends off Hearts' Andrew Driver

Spurs manager Juande Ramos brought in Hutton - along with Jonathan Woodgate from Middlesbrough - to sure up his defence, but because Rangers have dropped into the UEFA Cup after failing to qualify for the Champions League knock-out stages, he is deemed cup-tied, even though he has not played in the competition this season. Rangers finished third in Group E behind Barcelona and Lyon.

In a bizarre twist, however, Dimitar Berbatov would have been permitted to play for Manchester United in the Champions League had the striker's much-talked about transfer to Old Trafford come about during last month's transfer window.

A UEFA spokesman exlusively told Sportsmail online: "It is true that Dimitar Berbatov, had he moved to a team playing in the Champions League, would have been able to play in that competition because his current club had not played in that competition.

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Sitting pretty: Tottenham's Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov

"But in the case of Hutton, even though he did not play in the UEFA Cup for Rangers, the fact that Rangers have been relegated from the Champions League to the UEFA Cup, means he cannot appear in that competition for Tottenham in the same season."

UEFA Cup rules, Chapter 8, Article 17.18, state: "One player who has played UEFA club competition matches for another competing club in the current season may exceptionally be registered provided that the player has not been fielded: • in the same competition for another club, • for another club that is currently in the same competition.

Furthermore, if the player's new club is playing in the UEFA Cup, his former club must not have played in the UEFA Cup at any point in the current season."