Now obviously a weird one considering our playoff history but just heard Brighton finished 15 points ahead of plucky little Wednesday which is effectively 5 more wins over the course of a regular season yet the latter will possibly get promoted because Brighton bottled it over two games.
Love the playoffs for the drama etc and good luck to whoever goes up but seems odd that such a big prize after such a long season of relative consistency can slip away on the basis of essentially a couple of knockout games.
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The danger of not having them is that the three strongest teams will go up each year making it harder for a team with a smaller budget to stand a chance of promotion (i.e. Brentford last season and Sheffield Wednesday this season).
Its no different at the end of the day to 2nd / 3rd / 4th getting Champions League places... They've not won anything so why should they go into a competition which highlights Champions?
Maybe to make it even more interesting they should state that the bottom two sides go down automatically whilst the next four sides above them also go into a Play-Off with the losers from that going down (Not saying that because it would mean Charlton would have entered a Play-Off this season).
If you scrap the Play-Offs then games will most likely become more mundane and boring... Sheffield Wednesday v Cardiff would have no meaning, Wednesday would know that they're 15-pts from promotion so a win would become meaningless with neither team caring about a win...
Whereas this season both knew that defeat would let the other into the Play-Offs whilst potentially allowing another team further down the League into the fight for that last Play-Off spot.
Is Scotland third plays forth over two legs with the winner playing second over two legs with the winner playing second bottom of the division above over two legs. Be grateful for what you've got rodders!
Team in League above v 4th
2nd v 3rd
So its no different to the English structure in a sense (i.e. the top team plays the bottom whilst the two teams that finish in the middle play-off spots play each other)
This season Kilmarnock (2nd bottom in premiership) are playing Falkirk (2nd in championship) over two legs.
Falkirk have already beaten Hibs (3rd in championship) over two legs after Hibs beat Raith (4th in the championship) over two legs.
Kilmarnock could easily have been playing any of the three teams.
Keep it as it is.
No to relegation playoffs- I like us being the only english club to have survived one of these
The only tweak I would maybe consider is 3rd place are at Wembley automaticallyand 4th and 5th play off for right to meet them
What about going back to a team in the top division getting involved in the mix?
That and the fact that they are brilliant to watch.
Third place is inventing/codifying the sport.
if you finish 3rd you play the 6th team in a 1 off leg at home, if you win you play the final at home too. Basically whoever is the highest ranking plays at home in 1 off legs.
Have you seen any of the games from the 80's recently - what boring tosh as centre back passes to centre back and then to the keeper.
It's an exciting end to the season, good for the fans and good for TV. Also means that mid table teams usually are still in with a shout of something to until the last few games of the season.
I'd actually like to see more teams relegated from the. So bottom 3 down, then a relegation play off between the next 4 teams. This meaning top 3 in the championship go up and 3-7 in the play offs. There are to many teams that say "we'll be happy to finish 17th" unfortunately, should we ever make the premier league that would be us.... I'd take that now though.
With the money the way it is (especially in the Premier League) that 'third' side to be promoted (via the playoffs) will be so much better that the other sides in the playoffs by the following season that it doesn't matter that they weren't as well equipped in May because by September they will have replaced half their side.
The playoffs are great drama (although this season the first legs have taken much of the drama out of the second legs) but, as others have said it's the way the season is kept alive until the last couple of games that is the real benefit.
I might, even, go as far as to make the playoffs involve eight teams from each division. That way you would have even more teams fighting for something in the last game of the season. Imagine if tenth place gave you a shot at promotion? You could have a one leg tie to get into the semis with the highest placed team being at home. You could, if you were worried about the number of games, make the semi's one leg too with the highest placed team getting home advantage again.