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Play offs need to be restructured...but how?



CarlosTheOwl

New member
May 7, 2016
124
Great idea! That's exactly what I was thinking Carlos.

So we start our match 15-0 up. :jester:

Do you mind me asking, as an owl, do you use any products to keep your feathers in good shape?

How do you know they're in good shape... after years of watching Wednesday they're more than ruffled.
 




worthingseagull123

Well-known member
May 5, 2012
2,688
I accept that Worthingseagull123 but if the rules were changed at the start of a season then we all know what we need to achieve. A team finishing 6th means that there are 5 better teams over 46 matches. In the current system there is no recognition or advantage for a team finishing 15 points ahead of them! We may just as well scrap the league and have an FA cup style knockout tournament for promotion!! That's not a serious comment btw before everyone jumps on my back. But the point I am making is we have a disadvantage in trying to push to the last kick of the season. Other teams have tested players and we are likely to be two key players short. Our players may possibly be a bit more game weary and have to pick themselves up from the disappointment of missing out on the last game. I hope we do it, we deserve it, but do Sheffield Wednesday!!?

What I wouldn't want is say 4th bottom in Premier League getting involved.

I think it's best as it is.
 


SeagullofMalaysia

Well-known member
Jan 29, 2016
1,950
Somewhere in north Malaysia
My idea: If there's a 10+ point gap between the 3rd and 6th placed team, the 3rd placed team will receive a bye to the final while waiting for the 4th vs 5th fixture to finish
 


CarlosTheOwl

New member
May 7, 2016
124
I accept that Worthingseagull123 but if the rules were changed at the start of a season then we all know what we need to achieve. A team finishing 6th means that there are 5 better teams over 46 matches. In the current system there is no recognition or advantage for a team finishing 15 points ahead of them! We may just as well scrap the league and have an FA cup style knockout tournament for promotion!! That's not a serious comment btw before everyone jumps on my back. But the point I am making is we have a disadvantage in trying to push to the last kick of the season. Other teams have tested players and we are likely to be two key players short. Our players may possibly be a bit more game weary and have to pick themselves up from the disappointment of missing out on the last game. I hope we do it, we deserve it, but do Sheffield Wednesday!!?


If we won promotion this way then of course we'd deserve it. Once again, you yourselves finished 4th and 6th in these play offs and you'd have been happy to get promoted both times! I know it's a bit crap to admit but your chance was yesterday and last week etc, your chance to get 2nd place has been there all season. Fair play you've got close but you weren't good enough to get automatic by the smallest of margins. Whether that is fair or not is not usually discussed unless it's your own team in that predicament, I understand that. History suggests that the team in 3rd usually get promoted anyway and it's very rare for 6th placed teams to do it, if ever.
 










Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
25,962
Seems only one incident of a team finishing in third with over 89 points. Sunderland in 97-98 (90). Middlesbrough finished second..
 






The justification for the playoffs is that they bring added excitement to the end of the season. This is obviously not happening for us.

What do we do? Get rid of them and just have the top two clubs promoted? Obviously not. So why not the top three or the top four?

Or how about getting excited about the next two games (and possibly the next three)?

I'm prepared to give that a go.
 


Pavilionaire

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
31,277
The only way to ensure that a team finishing 15 points below us do not get promoted is to beat the buggers! I am sure that we will, but there is always a nagging doubt when playing a MASSIVE team like Wednesday.

The 5th vs 6th, then playing 4th, then playing 3rd idea is a good one. Over 2 legs for all games though.

This would take too long to play out, it's but impractical.

Personally I'd rather see the one legged semis one week after the end of the season and the final one week after that, thus leaving the bank holiday weekend free for families. This gets the season done a week earlier so better for International countries preparing for tournaments, the clubs, fans and in particualr the promoted club who have one more week to get their sh1t together for next season.

The FA Cup should be played in midweek so not using up a Saturday. Nobody cares about it apart from the two clubs involved.
 




wakeytom

New member
Apr 14, 2011
2,718
The Hacienda
I accept that Worthingseagull123 but if the rules were changed at the start of a season then we all know what we need to achieve. A team finishing 6th means that there are 5 better teams over 46 matches. In the current system there is no recognition or advantage for a team finishing 15 points ahead of them! We may just as well scrap the league and have an FA cup style knockout tournament for promotion!! That's not a serious comment btw before everyone jumps on my back. But the point I am making is we have a disadvantage in trying to push to the last kick of the season. Other teams have tested players and we are likely to be two key players short. Our players may possibly be a bit more game weary and have to pick themselves up from the disappointment of missing out on the last game. I hope we do it, we deserve it, but do Sheffield Wednesday!!?
Why not they have played their way in to the play offs like the other 3 teams, this really just sounds like sour grapes after what is really a freak season in where the teams finished in terms of points. I am sure there are pretty much no other forums saying the system is wrong even though they as football fans will clearly see the gap.

I love play off football and that is as supporting a team that has never done well in them!

The trouble with a team going straight to Wembley is that they will not play any games for a number of weeks so I actually think that is a disadvantage. Again someone suggested that the higher placed team has to be beat for the lower placed team to go through but that could lead to very negative football as the higher placed team defends for a draw
 


wakeytom

New member
Apr 14, 2011
2,718
The Hacienda
This would take too long to play out, it's but impractical.

Personally I'd rather see the one legged semis one week after the end of the season and the final one week after that, thus leaving the bank holiday weekend free for families. This gets the season done a week earlier so better for International countries preparing for tournaments, the clubs, fans and in particualr the promoted club who have one more week to get their sh1t together for next season.

The FA Cup should be played in midweek so not using up a Saturday. Nobody cares about it apart from the two clubs involved.

This must be a wind up, I love watching the earlier rounds of the FA Cup - the only time I am generally not bothered is by the Quarters of Semis at which point all other teams not involved can play. There is nothing better than watching a Prem / Championship team having to go to a non league paddock and have to play in those conditions against a group of post men who actually have a chance to make a name for themselves
 






Albumen

Don't wait for me!
Jan 19, 2010
11,495
Brighton - In your face
Yes but would it be right that a team in third get such an advantage if they finish above 6th by a point or on goal difference? Which could happen. You can't change the rules based on one freak season.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the current format. I was merely offering up an alternative following the request from the OP.
 


Guy Fawkes

The voice of treason
Sep 29, 2007
8,300
Point of order: we may or may not have been 'happy' about the existing structure before the season started - the reality is that we didn't have any choice except to accept it.

How many clubs,or even sets of supporters were voicing their unhappiness with the existing play-off structure last summer? Can you find anything anywhere on the net (or elsewhere else for that matter) showing there were calls for the existing play-off structure to be changed and how unfair the whole system supposedly is? I seriously doubt that after we finally managed to stay up last season any of our fans were thinking about the system needing changing to suit the 3rd placed team (which i seriously doubt anyone thought it would be us, and being that close to automatic promotion either)

Or the summer before that when we snuck into 6th and into the play-offs with virtually the last kick of the last game, or the summer before that.........
 


MrSnuggles

Well-known member
Apr 29, 2016
529
The justification for the playoffs is that they bring added excitement to the end of the season. This is obviously not happening for us.

What do we do? Get rid of them and just have the top two clubs promoted? Obviously not. So why not the top three or the top four?

Or how about getting excited about the next two games (and possibly the next three)?

I'm prepared to give that a go.
Here's a suggestion then...top two gets automatic promotion and the bottom two from the premier get relegated. 3rd from top in the championship play third from bottom in premier. 4th from top play 4th from bottom. 5 from top play 5th from bottom. Either over two legs or a one off winner takes all at Wembley. Chances are only 1 championship side will get promoted out of the three games but if all 3 were to win their games then so be it! Gives the premiership teams a chance that may have gone down too. We might appreciate something like that in a year or two if we are fortunate enough to go up thru this current system . At least a team finishing so far behind 3rd wouldn't go up at our expence!
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,192
Gloucester
How many clubs,or even sets of supporters were voicing their unhappiness with the existing play-off structure last summer? Can you find anything anywhere on the net (or elsewhere else for that matter) showing there were calls for the existing play-off structure to be changed and how unfair the whole system supposedly is?

I don't have to find anything anywhere - read what I said more carefully. I stated that we didn't have a choice about playing within the existing structure. That is a fact. I made no comment about whether we liked it or not, or whether we, or anybody else, had objected - just the fact that there was no choice available, even if we'd wanted one.
 




Guy Fawkes

The voice of treason
Sep 29, 2007
8,300
I don't have to find anything anywhere - read what I said more carefully. I stated that we didn't have a choice about playing within the existing structure. That is a fact. I made no comment about whether we liked it or not, or whether we, or anybody else, had objected - just the fact that there was no choice available, even if we'd wanted one.

So why does a lack of choice at the time stop people from suggesting that there should be a change to the play-off system? :shrug:

It has never stopped people in the past for putting forward new ideas if they think there is/may be a better way to do something (in all walks of life, not just the play-offs)
 




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