[Salopbaggie]

So the Play-Offs are to be expanded from 4 teams to 6 from next season, what do others think about it? Personally I don't think they should exist at all, it should go by the position over a season rather than a lucky goal in the Play-Offs. Earning the promotion over a season also shows consistency, so you would think shows that team may have a better chance of survival in the Prem.

However you look at it, league position is simply fairer, how can it be fair that the team who finishes 8th in the league gets promoted, based on results of a couple of games, but the team who finishes 3rd based on the results of 42 games doesn't? Seems to me its all about making, the EFL and the T.V. companies, a few more shillings, rather than fairness in the game.

[St Charles Owl]

The purist in me and 50 years of watching football tells me to agree with you, but the reality of today’s game makes me disagree. Football, like just about every major sport is about money, with the disparity between the PL and Championship the most glaring hole in that money. This move means that 10-12 teams will have something to play for in the final 3 months of the season, that means more revenue through crowds, commercial activities, merchandise, TV money etc plus the revenue from the extra 2 games it creates. This makes a small dent in the gap between the divisions, potentially secures some Championship clubs for the following season and allows more teams to better compete with the clubs coming down with parachute payments.

Aside from the money, the playoffs are exciting, the chance of reaching them towards the end of the season is exciting and current stats show that the teams in 3rd or 4th get promoted nearly 70% of the time with 3rd spot doing it nearly half the time alone. As regards the promoted teams surviving in the PL, history is starting to show that is something that it seems no club irrespective of their position can do for very long.

This isn’t a perfect solution but we have seen with the new TV deal and now this it seems the EFL is trying to maximize its potential revenues to give clubs a chance of competing both in the PL and the Championship season after season.

[4evaabaggie]

Salop,
I agree with you, the top three teams over the season have shown themselves over forty six matches to be the best, in fairness, they should be given the opportunity to compete in the league above, the champions league is the same, the competition should do what it says on the tin, CHAMPIONS, not also rans. ie Liverpool we’re champions of Europe, the best team in the whole of Europe, but not the best team in England over the course of the qualifying season.
It’s about money, the play offs do extend the season and do give teams something to play for, we have benefited from them, but is it fair, if it was in force this year we would still have a chance of promotion, we have been awful and would get slaughtered every week in the premier league. Is that what fans want, it just devalues the EFL. It will not help close the gap, the teams in the greed league will stay there and get further and further in front and unreachable.