The rules are the same for everyone at the start so it's tough-titty if some deserving teams miss out occasionally. The moral is do what we did and win the league...
We don't have it in the Prem. do you fancy the Rugby League/union/ American football version of finishing the leagur then having a play off completion for the top clubs?
Absolutely. I was just asking the question. I hate it in Union when a team wins the league but another grabs the end of season glory. But there's money in it, so don't be surprised if Murdoch pushes it, along with league games in Shanghai. And what Rupert wants, he usually gets.
I sincerely hope so, but his cash has the Prem by the short and curlies. If BSkyB is knocked out, tough times for all ahead, but ultimately a good thing.
BSkyB will be ok, he'll be forced to sell his share of the company. His influence is totally compromised which is why everyone is lining up to give him the boot now. Look at The Sun and their headline yesterday taking the piss out of Hodgson just because their choice (Redknapp) didn't get the job, they claim it was just banter but it was a nasty personal dig just for starters, they are all a bunch of ****s at Wapping...
Have to say, not much wrong with the system as is. Just hope I get to Blackpool next season, preferably in the PL. Infinitely preferable away venue to St Andrews or Upton Park.
Not forgetting that the football authorities don't care who controls the sport as long as they can make bucket loads of money. Murdoch is good for that at least. When Sky get their hands on th FA Cup TV rights we'll find that it's been shifted intothe aerly hous of the morning to suit live coverage to the 3-400 people who want to watch in America and the millions who are spnednding huge sums fixing the result and running betting scams in the Far East. The FA will want to know what their cut is. Strictly so that they can invest in the grass roots of the sport of the sport.
No, I'd keep it as it is in the Prem. If they did a playoff for fourth place it wouldn't be a terrible idea but I'd rather they didn't.
We do in effect. The top 5, although usually 6 or 7 due to cup winners being highly placed are rewarded with European places. That means the season continues til much later for pretty much the whole of the top half and normally has someone going for the last European place in the last couple of games. Granted this season the top 6 are locked now and will all be in Europe (5 league places plus Chelsea bringing the FA Cup place across to the PL, Liverpool having the League Cup place), but there's still the race to be 3rd and guarantee CL football next year, and the race for 4th that may or may not be CL depending on the result of the Bayern/Chelsea game. It's not about the 5 playoff games at the end of the season being exciting, it's about stopping there being 15 teams in midtable with virtually nothing to play for for the last 10 games of the season.
This, this and thrice this. I don't like the play-offs and never will. Nothing more that a cynical money-spinner for the Football League. Why the hell have a system where the bottom three are automatically promoted, but the third place team in the league below, having played 46 games, has to endure that lottery of a further three matches, when injuries and suspensions may have an adverse effect on their chances? A team hitting a late run of form can finish sixth in (say) the Championship, perhaps 15-20 points behind third place, yet take their place in the Big Time off the back of three more draws and a brace of penalty shootouts. It's crap. The whole point of a league is for 20-24 teams to play each other, home and away, across a season, after which the table equitably sorts out the better teams from the poorer. The playoffs simply dispenses with all that, with the Football League saying to the third placed team: "Thanks very much for your endeavours over the past 46 matches. Very entertaining. Now be good chaps and run about for another 270 minutes in a mini-cup competition and we'll see if you're elgible for that promotion you've just won. If you have any questions, we'll be in the back office counting the TV money." Ker-ching! One more point. The play-offs give the sixth-placed team in League Two (the fourth division to us old farts) an opportunity to play a cup final at Wembley denied to the team that wins the Championship title. How can that be fair? No disrepect to (say) Crewe Alexandria, but why should their fans have the chance of a day in the sun at the home of English football for finishing maybe 20+ points behind Swindon (the L2 winners), when Reading fans can't? Again, it's crap and all about money. Ker-ching!
I think they should scrap all play offs (as it's probably just for getting money in through Wembley). The bottom three teams of Prem go down and the top three of Champ go straight up. Simple.
When the season is dead in February for all the teams from 7th to 17th, you'd think they're a good idea.
Yes but why should a team who come in 6th get a chance above a team in 3rd who has played better over the duration of the season.
In the past decade we have experienced both sides of this. In 02-03 we finished 4th but lost out in the Final (albeit at the Millenium Stadium) to Cardiff who finished 6th. We were promoted in 2nd place the following season, would you rather have gone through the play-offs again just so you could win a Final? Last season we won the League but had no celebration of our great achievement other than at the Leeds match, would you have traded that for a Wembley Final? In any competition you play to finish 1st, the play-offs were introduced to keep interest alive for mid-table teams that would often be also-rans by Christmas, if they time their run of form right they can 'steal' the last place and then promotion, good luck to them that's the way it works and everyone knows that on the first day of the season. The bottom-line is money dictates everything and the 'fairness' is a thing of the past, it'll never change...
I think the way it's all set up now is fine, and suited to the cash driven and over hyped media world of today. But I don't remember being bored in the old first division when they played 42 games, the bottom 2 went down, only the Champions went into the European Cup ( that was a great competition), the Cup Winners went into the Cup Winners Cup and there were a couple of UEFA Cup places. If you love your team it is important whether you finish 11th rather than 12th. One change, though made years before the TV money became critical, that was definitely better was 3 points for a win - can't be bothered to do the calculations but I reckon Villa, a very dull team, would be much higher up the table under the old system.
Used to be pride just finishing in the top 10, used to be something to fight for, this argument only enhances my opinion on how it has degraded the leagues. Didn't agree with when it came in, still don't now, I'm well aware it won't be a changed and creates some great days for the winning teams but still not seen an argument to sway my opinion. /shrug Just agree to disagree on this one.
