After match analysis today he said that the playoffs were the best way to get promoted. Err, no Chris, they're not!! Four weeks to go and feet up planning a couple of parties is the way to do it. I know what he means. Big day at Wembley and all that. But I'm too close to a heart attack as it is to go through that. Winning it by a mile with eight points and a few smurfs to spare was just fine. I'll take a day at wemberlee next year though!
I sort of agree with him. As great as winning the League with weeks to spare was, we all expected it in a way. Even if we all thought we'd chuck it away 'typical Charlton style', we cruised through the League this season losing only a handful of games, and pretty much every fan, manager and player in the league probably thought us going up was a foregone conclusion by January. The play-off's however leave so much down to chance, so much squeaky bum time, so much nail-biting, so many tears etc. One 'Udders fan was crying her eyes out after 90 minutes, probably just anticipating how horrid it would feel if they lost. All of those emotions running through your head and then coming up victors (not to mention the day out at Wembley) make winning the play-offs a unique experience. That said, I'm perfectly content with how our season panned out, and I'm sure my ticker appreciates not having to go through the play-offs
What he means is (and he says this from experience) is that you take more momentum from play offs. Whether he is right, god knows. But he is not the first person to say that.
No. I don't think anything is as heartbreaking in football as final day relegation like Bolton this season. I think winning the playoff's has a sense of excitement about it, but in the long run going up as champions must have a greater sense of accomplishment. But then again, I might be chatting bull, as the most exciting game ever was THAT playoff final of ours!
I'd say losing in the playoffs is the most heartbreaking way of finishing a season. There's a sense of inevitability when you're bouncing around the bottom of the table all season - you slowly get used to the idea of dropping down to the league below. With playoffs, there's a sense of excitement, a 'what-if' scenario, you start to toy with the idea that you might win it afterall etc. and if you lose, you feel robbed, you look for someone to blame. Take our play-off semi-final defeat against Swindon. That was only a semi-final, and yet the moment Nicky Bailey sent the ball into orbit was the lowest low I've ever felt as a Charlton fan. I felt so so gutted and didn't even want to hear the word football being mentioned all summer. Compare that to one year previously when a Lee Hughes strike sent us down against Blackpool. Yes I felt disappointed and down, but over the course of the season it was clear that it would be a case of 'when' rather than 'if'.
Plus it was worse for the Blades, as after the season proper had finished, they were in third place, so to miss out on penalties to a team who finished comfortably behind them is a wretched thing to happen.I know the play offs bring excitement, and keep the season from going flat by february for a number of clubs, but after forty six games, the table shows who the best three teams up. The third team being decided by an additional three games being tacked on is a rank injustice,and the team who stands to lose out is the highest placed play off team. Having said all that, i can still remember the buzz from the Sunderland final. Just as an off thought, I would have said the momentum is ours as champions. We're a couple of weeks ahead in planning, and our team was demonstrably better, so we should be on a roll.
Have to admit the PlayOff final yesterday highlighted why Charlton were the best Team in League One this season, regardless of what other teams felt (Gary Madine are you reading?) We'd have destroyed Huddersfield or Sheff Utd with their performance, even when it got to penalties they both proved that over the course of the season it seemed that only Charlton wanted to go up!!
