The Playoffs

Necronomicon

With the second leg of the first semi-final upon us tonight, I thought it'd be interesting to get people's takes on the playoffs.

Some people are against the concept of the playoffs because the 3rd best team in the league can ultimately miss out on promotion to a team that finished several points below them. I can certainly understand this point of view, and I used to feel stronger about it myself. However, I just love to watch them too much to want the system ditched

So if you're in favour of keeping the playoffs, would you keep the format or would you be in favour of the football league experimenting with alternative methods?

I was unaware of this, but apparently in Serie B, there are only playoffs if the team who finishes 3rd finishes under 10 points above the 4th placed team.
From Wikipedia:

It operates almost identically to the system currently used in England. The top two clubs in Serie B earn automatic promotion to Serie A with the next four clubs entering a playoff to determine who wins the third promotion place, as long as fewer than 10 points separate the third and fourth-placed teams (which usually occurs).

This would bring an element of fair play to the system, although having said that, I can't remember the last time 10 points separated 3rd and 4th in any division in the football league.

Another alternative, which I actually thought was the system in Serie B, is in operation in the Belgian Second Division. It's a system where the team who finishes second-last in the First Division joins a playoff pool with three teams from the Second Division.

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At the end of last season in the LoI the second last placed team in the Premier League (Waherforh) played the second placed team in the First (Dundalk).

Dundalk won the play-off, but they are still in the First

Kingp35

Play-Offs are great, leave them the way they are.

Dont be at yourself

I like the idea of playoffs - it gives teams further down the table something meaningful to play for. Without them, in a league the size of the Championship, too many teams would be playing for nothing for seasons on end.

An interesting proposal I read on football365.com recently suggested implementing a playoff for the 4th Champions League spot. I'd be in favour of this, as it might break the dominance of the top 4. On the other hand, it might just create an even stronger Top 3.

county

Kingp35 wrote:

Play-Offs are great, leave them the way they are.

would agree with you there,what great drama it is

Pighead

seansouth wrote:

At the end of last season in the LoI the second last placed team in the Premier League (Waherforh) played the second placed team in the First (Dundalk).

Dundalk won the play-off, but they are still in the First

seansouth, you used the grinning smiley by mistake. You obviously meant to use this wee fella.:( Or maybe even this lad :mad:

John_C

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

I like the idea of playoffs - it gives teams further down the table something meaningful to play for. Without them, in a league the size of the Championship, too many teams would be playing for nothing for seasons on end.

That's it exactly. The new playoff here is a bit improved again, it gives home advantage to the team which finished higher in the league.

LuckyLloyd

Drama and excitement FTW!! Never change something this good. Thanks.

PHB

I like the idea of playoffs in general, but I do think there should be a points limit.
I think they should do what Serie B does, and if there is a 10 point gap between 3rd and 4th, 3rd automatically goes up.

That said, the playoff is probably worth a lot of money to the teams in it, let alone due to the prospect of promotion, but in terms of promoting the championship as a whole.

Kojak

Kingp35 wrote:

Play-Offs are great, leave them the way they are.

Agree 100% with that. They provide a lot of entertainment every year, and it adds a little extra excitement to the end of the season.

KdjaCL

Playoffs are great as they are the only downside is the final is on an English Bank holiday so we usually miss it.

The worst play off system is the Dutch ,shows how bad playoffs can be when they are designed to keep the big clubs in the top spots.


kdjac

Savman

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

it gives teams further down the table something meaningful to play for. Without them, in a league the size of the Championship, too many teams would be playing for nothing for seasons on end.

That's about it to this discussion tbh. Leave 'em well alone.;)

redzerdrog

great match on atm southampton equalised in the 89th min to take it to ET

Jonny Arson

I not have much issue with promotion/relegation style playoffs but I have never liked the English system where we often see a 6th place team being promoted - that is just wrong IMO.

What I would like to see is top 3 from the Championship get promoted and the 4th place team play-off against 4th bottom from the Premiership or even have 4th/5th Championship and 16th/17th Premiership in a 4 team play-off with semi-finals and a final - I say this because there are so many draw chasing bland teams in the Premiership who are doing nothing for years (Middlesbrough, Fulham and Man City spring to mind) I'd like to see more of the teams kept on their toes to improve competition.