Premiership Playoffs

[Shak]

Would you be in favour of them?

 

As we saw from the Wigan-Sheffield United game, a one-off, winner-take-all end of season game is pretty much as good as it gets in terms of pure drama and committed football.

 

As it is in the Premiership, generally by the time there are five matches left more than half of the teams have nothing left to play for. Be they stuck in mid-table obscurity, already relegated or a cert to finish either 3rd or 4th, the result is always the same. Half-hearted efforts in relatively meaningless games.

 

End of season playoffs could really spice things up if you ask me.

 

Obviously, whoever finishes top should win the league and get the trophy. Would never change that.

 

However, when it comes to CL / UEFA places and relegation, I think they'd be mint.

 

Here's what I would propose.

 

- Team to finish in 1st place are champions, with whoever finishes 2nd joining them in getting an automatic CL spot.

 

- 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th go into two matches for the other CL spots, with the losers netting UEFA Cup spots.

 

3rd vs 6th

 

4th vs 5th

 

Whichever team finished higher has home advantage.

 

- Assuming the CC is won by team in the Top 6, the teams that finished 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th go into a 4-team knockout tournament for the last UEFA spot.

 

- 20th place is automatically relegated.

 

- 16th vs 19th with the loser going down.

 

  17th vs 18th with the loser going down.

 

Really think it would give teams something to play for right until the end, as only positions 11th-15th end up with nothing.

 

Had it been in effect last season we'd have seen.

 

 

Relegation:

 

Fulham vs Charlton

 

Wigan vs Sheffield United

 

 

WAFFA

 

Bolton vs Blackburn

 

Reading vs Portsmouth

 

Winners face-off, with whoever had the higher PL finish getting home advantage.

 

 

Champions League Place

 

Arsenal vs Spurs

 

Liverpool vs Everton

 

:lol:

 

How good would those CL games have been?

 

Obviously there will be a few tweaks needed, but in general is this a good idea or a bad idea?

 

[gazza ladra]

no.

[Guest gggg]

Dude! that's sick

 

Bloody yanks.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

in principle yes, but you've fucked it up

 

bottom 6 go into a round robin

 

closer you are to the bottom the more games you should win to survive

 

 

having 16th go down and 19th survive based on 1 game is daft

[Optimistic Nut]

Nope, but I would change the Championship play-offs to copy the Serie B ones. If the team in 3rd finishes 9 points clear of 4th space, no play-offs and the team in 3rd goes up automatically, if not, play-offs as normal. Would be much fairer.

[Shak]

in principle yes, but you've f***** it up

 

bottom 6 go into a round robin

 

closer you are to the bottom the more games you should win to survive

 

 

having 16th go down and 19th survive based on 1 game is daft

 

Too many games though, especially in a WC or Euro year.

 

If the 16th placed team can't win at home to the 19th place team they have no excuses IMO.

[Mick]

I've always been against play-off games and always will be, I don't see why you should have to play for anything when you've already been through a season to reach whatever position you finish in.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

nah, that would be shan tbh

 

 

 

another alternative if the precious tarts can't play any more games (ignoring the fact that the bottom teams play less games than the top over a season, and are not likely to be full of internationals either)

 

 

at, say, the end of March, split the league into 3.

 

all 3 sections then proceed as mini leagues for CL/UEFA qualification, domestic cup byes, and avoiding relegation

[Shak]

nah, that would be shan tbh

 

 

 

another alternative if the precious tarts can't play any more games (ignoring the fact that the bottom teams play less games than the top over a season, and are not likely to be full of internationals either)

 

 

at, say, the end of March, split the league into 3.

 

all 3 sections then proceed as mini leagues for CL/UEFA qualification, domestic cup byes, and avoiding relegation

 

It would be imperative that teams play 38 games though, to ensure some teams don't have easier fixtures than others.

[gazza ladra]

Hey, I'm a "Yank" and I'm telling you that you do not want to go down that road.

 

Playoffs are all about money. TV revenue. Once the owners figure out how much money is to be made from playoffs, they'll extend the playoffs to include practically every mediocre team they can (Hello, Champions League, World Cup) so that the season itself is meaningless.

 

Playoffs ruined baseball in the US. The MLS (Major League Soccer) season is a joke.

 

No. No. No.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

Hey, I'm a "Yank" and I'm telling you that you do not want to go down that road.

 

Playoffs are all about money. TV revenue. Once the owners figure out how much money is to be made for playoffs, they extend the playoffs to include practically every mediocre team they can (Hello, Champions League, World Cup) so that the season itself is meaningless.

 

Playoffs ruined baseball in the US. The MLS (Major League Soccer) season is a joke.

 

No. No. No.

 

Yeah they would never ruin our football with too many fixtures for TV revenue....

 

oh wait, they already have

[Guest tbelcher11]

The current situation seems to be working out just fine.  What ain't broke, don't fix it, that's what I always say.  I wouldn't like a playoff.

[womblemaster]

Seems a good idea, but its wont work 2times in 4 years.

 

Would create too many games near the end of a loong season, which would affect euro championships and world cup.

 

 

[madras]

not as you describe ,however i'd have the bottom 2 teams releagted,top 2 from the championship promoted, then 3rd bottom in the prem plays 4th top from the championship and 4th bottom plays 3rd top from the championship ,winners play in the prem.

[Lloydie]

They do something similar in Holland (a recent introduction) and it just doesn't work. By the end of the season there are teams who know they're in the play offs because they're say 3rd, and stop trying because they can't win the league and can't drop out of the playoff spots. This season was a bit different as three teams had a chance at the title, but that had nothing to do with the playoffs.

[Optimistic Nut]

not as you describe ,however i'd have the bottom 2 teams releagted,top 2 from the championship promoted, then 3rd bottom in the prem plays 4th top from the championship and 4th bottom plays 3rd top from the championship ,winners play in the prem.

 

Don't like that idea, and if it were to be used. Plus it wouldn't really be very fair on the 4th bottom side, to finish higher than the 3rd bottom side, but end up with the tougher play-off.

[Guest WalkervilleMag]

when the play offs 1st started there used to be the 4th bottom team in the old 1st division, and 3rd ,4th, 5th teams from the 2nd division.  remember Charlton beating Leeds in the final to stay up

[madras]

not as you describe ,however i'd have the bottom 2 teams releagted,top 2 from the championship promoted, then 3rd bottom in the prem plays 4th top from the championship and 4th bottom plays 3rd top from the championship ,winners play in the prem.

 

Don't like that idea, and if it were to be used. Plus it wouldn't really be very fair on the 4th bottom side, to finish higher than the 3rd bottom side, but end up with the tougher play-off.

aye,got that the wrong way around,but if we've got to have play offs this is the way to go for me.

 

personally i'd get rid of the play offs altogether.

[Optimistic Nut]

Then again though, it would also be unfair on the Championship side who finished higher to get the harder game as well.

 

Unless you have a 4-team group at neutral venues with the top 2 going to the Premiership.

[Guest The Toon Army from farawa]

Play-offs should be banned. They make a mockery of the league.

The point of a league is to find the best, second best etc over the season. Play-off's mean that a team can finish 6th loads of points behind the 4th and still get promoted so all the extra points count for nowt.

[Alberto2005]

It would be silly, of course from a Newcastle perspective it would benefit us but like people have said we could finish 30 to 40 points behind top and still win it,i wouldn't want to win it that way.

[Guest gggg]

Play-offs should be banned. They make a mockery of the league.

The point of a league is to find the best, second best etc over the season. Play-off's mean that a team can finish 6th loads of points behind the 4th and still get promoted so all the extra points count for nowt.

 

The playoffs should stay in the lower leagues but thats it. If only the first 3 teams went up you'd be left with 17 teams with nothing to play for in the final weeks of the season and fans staying away, the reason the championship is the 4th most watched league in the world is because most of the league have something to play for till the end. With 2 weeks to go last season half the league could have been promoted.

 

All the clubs know the rules before they start out and at the end of the day finishing 3rd is still a failure, they're getting a second chance really.

 

[Decky]

So a team finishing 3rd can lost their CL spot to the team finishing 6th? whats the point? how would you feel if we had a great season, finished 3rd then some cunt like Everton beats us in 1 game and takes our CL place off us?

[Guest firetotheworks]

I think at the moment its almost like a play off anyway. If there were an actual play off I would hate it, imagine if Sunderland had have got out of relegation the last time they were in the Premiership? It would make the league worse. The Uefa places are the only thing I could see working but I think things are fine as they are.

[Guest samtoonarmy]

It would make it more interesting but i like it the way it is