Scrap the lottery that is the Playoffs.
By Michael Lynch
May 20 2004
Should the playoffs be scrapped? Teams work hard over the whole season to end on a respectable points total that'd see them finish in 3rd only to have their hard work undone by the luck of a team in 6th. There's no way that's fair is there? Not in my opinion.
The lottery that is the play-offs. It has made dreams and it has broken them. It has caused joy, and jubilant scenes across footballing cities around England- but has caused more pain. The Football League playoff's a lottery, and maybe it's time to scrap them. Now hardly any teams that have won promotion via 'the lottery' have managed to retain their Premiership status, with the exceptions being Birmingham, Charlton and Bolton, I think. Wolves are the latest addition to this group. Also the season lasts 46 games and not 3. You wouldn't think it, though, and a lot of the time the team that finishes 6th can find themselves going up to the expense of a a consistent team that worked extremely hard to finish 3rd. Imagine if Forest were to miss out on automatic promotion by one goal and then missed out on the playoffs- it would be terrible. To my knowledge the reason that the playoffs were introduced was in order to raise league attendance and to aid with reducing number of teams in the Premiership. Now this has been achieved maybe it is time to scrap them? There are also a lot of good things about this idea, too though. One major positive is that it gives more teams a chance to achieve what they have been dreaming of since their existence. A chance to play in one of the world's most famous leagues. It also gives teams a major cash injection if they go up and means that most teams in the division have something to play for. But as aforementioned, it does give almost any team the opportunity to go up. Weak teams are getting the chance to go up. They might just manage to make it to 6th, and then beat a much better team on luck. Or one of the division finer teams (i.e. Sunderland) might miss out because they are a better side and so are more tired from a cup run. My view is that the playoffs should be scrapped. It could just help in saving the English game and giving a wider range of teams a chance of Premiership success. Express your views by filling in the box below.