Still not worthy of a thread

[Shearergol]

How about the league winners have to play the bottom place team in a one off game, and they swap places if the bottom team win? Every league.

[Kid Icarus]

26 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

What's so wildly unacceptable about this idea, though? Play-offs are hardly incompatible; we've had them for decades. And, maybe even more importantly, there was a time where we didn't have them. They're an indisputable good in the Football League. Therefore a positive change. 

For me it's a war of attrition. Yes, you might say 'what's so wrong about this one thing?' and justify it in reasonable ways, but then over time lots of small changes result in the game being unrecognisable to the one we love.

 

For me unless it's an obvious, universally accepted improvement, leave well alone. The league format we have is barely in need of  improvement, let alone broken.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Kid Icarus

[Doctor Zaius]

A 15th - 18th team playoff is never going to happen as it envokes so much more risk for PL clubs. If clubs are able to finish 15th and still very realistically able to go down, that makes everyone outside the top 6 more likely to be relegated and suffer the economic consequences. Clubs would instantly lose value meaning the PL would lose value. Never in a million years going to happen, especially considering any change is likely to be voted on by member clubs too?

 

In actual, good for the sport football terms, I do think finishing 15th and going down is harsh in a 20 team league. I'd be all for a 17th/18th placed team playoff though. Maybe even a 16th-19th tournament. Certainly one for European places. Still all unrealistic though. They want a closed shop with less risk regardless of entertainment value and sporting integrity. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Doctor Zaius

[Likelylad]

How about 4th,5th & 6th place battle it out for the final Champions League place? 

I'm sure that would go down a treat in  the corridors of Stamford Bridge.

[Doctor Zaius]

4 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

For me it's a war of attrition. Yes, you might say 'what's so wrong about this one thing?' and justify it in reasonable ways, but then over time lots of small changes result in the game being unrecognisable to the one we love.

 

For me unless it's an obvious, universally accepted improvement, leave well alone. The league format we have is barely in need of  improvement, let alone broken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dont know. The same teams qualifying for Europe/CL. City to win 5 out of the last 6 titles. Same teams coming up and going down. Obviously, financial parity is the biggest factor, but I cant help feel the current league format entrenches the position of teams. 

 

[thomas]

i'm down to try anything to break up the pointlessness (in general - there are the odd years with exceptions) of the last 6 or so weeks for the majority of the league where 1st-6th is settled, 7th-15th aren't shuffling much, 16th-18th are the only ones really left duking it out, and 19th and 20th are stone dead.

 

obviously every team will tell you they go out to win every game, if not for european placement or survival then pride, but no one here can, with a straight face, look me in the eye and tell me a good chunk of the league doesn't coast into summer every year.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by thomas

[Wullie]

Most of these play-off ideas do exist in various places around Europe. Trying to understand how the Belgian league works gives me a headache.

[Foluwashola]

Would genuinely be in favour of a blanket ban on Americans participating in the sport in any other capacity than watching.

[Sima]

13 minutes ago, Likelylad said:

How about 4th,5th & 6th place battle it out for the final Champions League place? 

I'm sure that would go down a treat in  the corridors of Stamford Bridge.

 

4th-9th into the playoffs with 4th & 5th going through to the "semis" and having home advantage

 

6th v 9th

7th v 8th

 

Playoff Final at Wembo.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Sima

[joeyt]

what in the Prem has been so bad that you want all these convuluted playoff systems all of a sudden

[Yorkie]

@Doctor Zaius is absolutely right in that I know my idea re 15th-18th thing would never happen, I just think it would be interesting and am making a wider point about not resisting ideas for change out of hands. But yeah turkeys aren't going to vote for Christmas. European play-offs would be great but, again, like you say, no chance. 

[Happinesstan]

40 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Nah I'm saying 19th and 20th go down automatically; 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th battle it out to avoid being the third (and final) relegation club. Basically a bit like a mirror image of the top of the Championship. 

So the losers of the semis would play in the final, and the losers of the final get relegated? It would make each game like a final.

[Yorkie]

5 minutes ago, joeyt said:

what in the Prem has been so bad that you want all these convuluted playoff systems all of a sudden

 

There's nothing remotely convoluted about it, like. It's exactly the same as the Football League play-offs where four becomes one for the purposes of increasing competition/ adding more hope/jeopardy/drama.

 

Would anyone argue that the Football League play-offs are a bad thing?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think you could easily argue that the team who gets the most points over 40 games should get promoted. That's fairer, although worse entertainment. 

[joeyt]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

There's nothing remotely convoluted about it, like. It's exactly the same as the Football League play-offs where four becomes one for the purposes of increasing competition/ adding more hope/jeopardy/drama.

 

Would anyone argue that the Football League play-offs are a bad thing?

 

But like Stan says, for the relegation playoff are you saying the side who loses their semi finals then gets to the final and then the loser gets relegated?

 

That's really going to attract the fans

 

You've had a shit season? Here's two more games where you can buy tickets for and if you lose them both you'll be relegated!

[Happinesstan]

31 minutes ago, Doctor Zaius said:

 

I dont know. The same teams qualifying for Europe/CL. City to win 5 out of the last 6 titles. Same teams coming up and going down. Obviously, financial parity is the biggest factor, but I cant help feel the current league format entrenches the position of teams. 

 

I think deciding which club goes into the world's most lucrative competition, based upon one game which could easily be decided by a bad VAR deision, would further entrench their positions.

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, joeyt said:

But like Stan says, for the relegation playoff are you saying the side who loses their semi finals then gets to the final and then the loser gets relegated?

 

That's it.

[Tiresias]

Bundesliga have it, I just think it kinda goes against the principle that the 3 worst teams go down, instead it's 2 worst and 1 of the remaining worst. How would you feel battling to 15th position or whatever and then have a few key injuries and relegated as those cripple you for last games. For promotion it stops the same 3 ones coming up everytime with parachute payments so there is at least that reason

[Happinesstan]

5 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

But like Stan says, for the relegation playoff are you saying the side who loses their semi finals then gets to the final and then the loser gets relegated?

 

That's really going to attract the fans

 

You've had a shit season? Here's two more games where you can buy tickets for and if you lose them both you'll be relegated!

I was actually praising the idea. Clubs get two chances to save their PL status, is another way of looking at it. If it involved lubs from the championship it would be wholly unfair, of course.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Happinesstan

[Sima]

23 minutes ago, joeyt said:

what in the Prem has been so bad that you want all these convuluted playoff systems all of a sudden

 

I may be biased to the idea to give us a shortcut into the Champions League outside of our expected "growth curve"  

[Happinesstan]

Just now, Sima said:

 

I may be biased to the idea to give us a shortcut into the Champions League outside of our expected "growth curve"  

Do you think we'd get the VAR decisions in the playoff?

[Sima]

1 minute ago, Happinesstan said:

Do you think we'd get the VAR decisions in the playoff?

 

Fuck.

[Kid Icarus]

44 minutes ago, Doctor Zaius said:

 

I dont know. The same teams qualifying for Europe/CL. City to win 5 out of the last 6 titles. Same teams coming up and going down. Obviously, financial parity is the biggest factor, but I cant help feel the current league format entrenches the position of teams. 

 

 

Aye, but that has nothing to do with the format and everything to do with money and power. Changing the format of the league isn't going to be any kind of equaliser. Imo this how these things end up making it into conversations within punditry, because talking about fiddling with league formats and bringing in whacky rules is a way to avoid talking about the obvious inequality in the game. 

[HaydnNUFC]

The format is not broken, why are people trying to fix it? Some of the suggestions have been pure AIDS.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by HaydnNUFC

[Abacus]

17 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

There's nothing remotely convoluted about it, like. It's exactly the same as the Football League play-offs where four becomes one for the purposes of increasing competition/ adding more hope/jeopardy/drama.

 

Would anyone argue that the Football League play-offs are a bad thing?

 

Not a bad idea as a hypothetical.

 

My issue with it would be that often, the relegation scrap is more interesting than the battle for the top 4 etc, and I feel this would take away from that drama.

 

Going in to the last game of the season with two or three teams in the mix to go down in the sudden death of the last relegation spot is one of the most exciting ends to a season. However, knowing that they still had a chance of staying up due to there being a play off still to go would take away from that.

 

Of course, I suppose you could argue that similar drama would apply to the battle between 18th and 19th instead. But I don't like to think about that, since I fear change.

 

NB, in it's favour this kind of system would have given Ashley the terrors by meaning he couldn't just aim for 17th every year.

 

Also, instead of going to Wembley in the final, this play-off of "who is the crappiest" should have it's shame confirmed by being at the Stadium of Light, to mark it as a true festival of rubbish. FA Cup style, they could call this journey "The Road to Sunderland".