English Championship League Playoffs - Fair or farce?

Dinarius · 29-05-2023 12:48pm #1

Luton, who finished the season ten points clear of Coventry (and eleven points clear of Sunderland, who were also in the playoffs), thankfully beat Coventry in the playoffs final.

Justice was done, in my opinion.

Luton has shown themselves to be the third best after playing 46 games of football, over a very long season. Yet, they might have been denied their reward after a further 180 minutes of football.

The playoffs are a farce, whose point defeats me.

Imagine if I proposed that relegation from the Premier league of the third from bottom team would be decided by a mini-league comprising the teams that finished 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd. You'd say I needed my head examined, and rightly so. Third from bottom weren't good enough and were relegated, which is what should happen. So, what's the difference?

And, while I'm at it, does any other European league operate a playoffs decider system for any of their divisions?

D.

NIMAN · 29-05-2023 12:59pm

I think the playoffs were introduced to keep the top end of a league exciting as long as possible.

The fact that it allows teams as low as 6th a chance at promotion means that the season is extended in terms of saleability for tv etc.

If it was just the top 3 go up, I'd guess these 3 slots could be decided with a few weeks to go, and you'd end up with a lot of dead rubber games.

It also allows the FA to take the finals to Wembley and cash in.

I'm not so sure if you asked fans if they'd go back to just top 3 going up, they'd all agree. Now at the start of the season, if you think your team is in the top 6 best teams in the league, you have a chance.

Of course it can throw up disappointing results, perhaps if the team 3rd doesn't make it, and the team 6th gets promoted despite being well clear off the pace of 3rd in terms of points. But that's the gamble.

artanevilla · 29-05-2023 1:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058298337/english-championship-league-playoffs-fair-or-farce

Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland plus others all use some variety of playoffs. Any who don't would really be the exception. France probably the only notable exception.

Have a look at how the Belgian league works and you'll lose your mind.

HalloweenJack · 29-05-2023 1:49pm

I like the way they do it in Serie B.

Top two go up automatically. Third joins them if they finish more than fifteen points ahead of fourth. If not, there are play-offs.

Similarly, bottom three go down and there's a fourth automatic relegation if the gap between 16th and 17th is more than five points. If the gap is less, there's a play-off.

I think a system where there's a minimum points gap required to activate the play-offs is a good idea (though fifteen seems excessive).

Look at League One. Sheff Wed finished ten points clear of Barnsley and only two points behind Ipswich and five behind the champions but they ended up in the play-offs.

Or the Conference where Notts County were four points behind champions Wrexham and 23 clear of Chesterfield in third.

The fact that the English lower leagues have more teams than most leagues means the play-offs are a way to keep it interesting for more teams in the latter stages.

Edit - Also worth having a look at plenty of European leagues that have Championship play-offs and relegation play-offs. Austria, Denmark, Serbia, Czechia, Greece, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania and Israel have them.

In Serbia, Red Star were 20 points clear but had to go into a mini-tournament to determine the champions. They won by 22 points in the end.

Will_I_Amnt · 29-05-2023 2:10pm

Promotion/Relegation playoff should have been over 2 legs, Leicester City Vs Luton Town

The same at the other end of The Championship, Reading Vs Sheffield Wednesday - Instead, Wednesday today play a final against Barnsley who finished 10 points behind them, and ALMOST already lost out to Perterborough who finished 19 points behind them.

However it's true that the last dozen or so rounds of those leagues would be almost all dead rubber games without the current structure....it sacrifices integrity of the competition for financial income essentially.

Kiith · 29-05-2023 2:37pm

I love the playoffs. Fantastic occasions, and really bring a huge amount of excitement to the leagues.

Is it 100% fair on the 3rd place team? No, not really, but that's their own fault for not finishing 2nd. And if they are comfortably better than the 4th-6th teams, they should win their playoff games.

Hope they never change it.

dfx- · 29-05-2023 2:56pm

There are two automatic spots. Beyond that points gaps don't matter until seventh.

Would Middlesbrough have caught Luton if third actually mattered? Would they have stayed third under pressure of holding on to the last automatic spot...

Luton were third in a league where third or sixth doesn't hugely matter outside of home advantage.

Fr Tod Umptious · 31-05-2023 7:19am

The playoffs have been around for over 30 years.

They aren't going anywhere, thankfully.

Necro · 31-05-2023 8:20am

Certainly don't want to see any promotion/relegation playoffs anyways. If ever there was a process designed to protect the higher divisions and condense an entire season into a one off game. This season for instance it would give Leicester a 39th game to save their PL status after not being good enough over 38 to stay up.

At least with the playoffs it's 4 teams from the lower division competing for a spot in the higher one.

y0ssar1an22 · 31-05-2023 8:31am

I think 6 plays 5, winner vs 4, winner vs 3 is the best way to do. Makes a distinction between finishing 3rd and 6th

thebaz · 31-05-2023 9:55am

ask Sheffield Wednday fans, Id say they enjoy them.

artanevilla · 31-05-2023 10:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120660658#Comment_120660658

I'd like to see the stats for those promotion/relegation ones. Ostensibly you have one team looking for promotion, they've a team generally used to winning, morale is high and generally coming off good form. On the other side the team in the higher division has had a poor season, morale is low and form is generally bad.

pavb2 · 03-06-2023 10:12am

I stand to be corrected but When they were reducing the number of teams from 22 to 20 in 1987/ 88 I think there were promotion/relegation playoffs.

its an oddity that finishing 2nd say in the Championship doesn’t have the same euphoria of lifting a trophy in a Wembley playoff final.

bucketybuck · 03-06-2023 11:21am

Those who don't see the value in play offs are probably the same sort of people who thought VAR was a good idea.

Fact is that as entertainment football badly needs the bugger factor, the randomness and unfairness that creates tension and engagement.

Its like some people want a sterile, boring list of numbers where everything is perfectly fair and nothing generates any passion.

English Championship League Playoffs - Fair or farce?

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