Should the EFL increase the number of play-off places in the Championship from four to six?
That's what we've been mulling over in our latest instalment of The Debate, in which two of our esteemed team argue their cases for and against.
YES: A Case for Expanding the Championship Play-offs (@JamesAndrew_)
'Nobody does drama like the Championship does drama,' youll regularly hear Sky Sports commentator Gary Weaver shout into his microphone while calling whichever game hes doing that particular week.
And hes right.
Season after season, the Championship does provide more drama, twists and turns than any other league, which is never more epitomised than when the end-of-season lottery of the play-offs is reached.
Year after year, the play-offs provide such drama. Looking back to last seasons play-offs, Coventry and Sheffield United fans may disagree that it was entertaining, but Sunderland supporters certainly will not.
Its not uncommon to get to the latter stages of the regular season with the vast majority of Championship teams still in a relegation scrap, pushing for automatic promotion or battling for that last play-off place.
By expanding the play-off places down to eighth in the league, it removes any end-of-season dead rubbers as teams in the top half have a real chance of making the play-offs going into the final two games and, therefore, a chance of reaching the Premier League.
The proposal has been put forward by Preston North End chief executive Peter Ridsdale, which is understandable given theyre one of five current Championship sides never to have been in the Premier League.
Currently, 25 per cent of Championship teams reach either promotion or play-off spots. Expanding it takes that to 33 per centthat has to be good for the game, as well as giving the likes of Preston, Millwall, Bristol City, Wrexham and Oxford the chance to dream.
And from P. Riddys point of view, if he gets this change through, it would be a football legacy he would want to be remembered for, rather than being the Leeds chairman who installed that goldfish tank in the Elland Road boardroom.
NO: A Stance Against Expanding the Championship Play-offs (@ketchell)
Football authorities determination to fill the gaps strikes again. After Gianni Infantino seized on some spare time between major tournaments to aerate the FIFA Club World Cup, its the EFLs turn to scream Ive found it in Greek.
The addition of an eliminator round to the Championship play-offs, similar to that used by the National League, would see clubs in seventh and eighth enter the play-offs, with the team finishing fifth playing eighth, and sixth meeting seventh, in ties at the better-placed teams home ground.
Because, you know whats even better than losing out on promotion? Being pipped by a team who finished 18 points behind you
Allow me to go full WalterWhiteScreamingNo.jpg at this prospect of change. Yes, this eliminator works in the National League, but its also rubbish for two reasons: firstly, you have to use maths to work out who plays who.
Also, with only ONE automatic promotion spot in the National League (thats a debate for a future issue), its a necessary evil to stop half the teams heading off to the beach for the final two months of the campaign. With two automatic promotion spots in the Championship, its not necessary for the second tier to adopt this eliminator nonsense.
The play-offs are perfect as they are: a semi, a final, winner takes all. The Championship is already a 46-game slog, so increasing the play-offs to six would mean 50 games if you made the final. Add in the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and the whatever-its-called-now EFL Trophy for the lower league clubs, and things are getting a little bit silly. But when theres money to be made in football, we all know that its hard to keep the toothpaste in the tube.
At this rate, the EFL wont stop until the play-offs are expanded to 24 teams, with everyone playing each other home and away over a whole season. Now theres an idea!
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