The Playoffs In Colour

Floridagull 

It's a system that leaves itself open to, and will inevitably throw up, some massive injustices. Of course next season in Torquay's division even the 7th placed team will be taking their place in the end of season play-offs. Just looking at the final Premier League table now, you've the second place side (Spurs) having accumulated 86 points over the course of the season, while the 7th placed side (Everton) fell 25 points short  of that, totalling 61 points.
Should there be any system whereby Everton could still win the greater prize than Spurs at the end of that season's league endeavours ?

My greater concern at National league level and below, is the effect that this expansion will have on the relegation fight. Many National League sides have a sprinkling of very good players, but plenty of average ones, and then a squad padded out with some decidedly iffy ones who would only get played as a last resort. With only one club getting automatic promotion, and every chance that that club will have pulled clear of the rest a few games before the end of the season, there could be several sides with a guaranteed play-off place, knowing they can't fall further than 7th. At this level, having your best players fresh, injury free, and available, is massively more to your advantage than whether you're home or away (particularly if your away form is good in any case).

Even at Championship level, Huddersfield Manager, Dave Wagner, was honest enough to say that he didn't have a big squad of good players, and so once Newcastle and Brighton were well clear and uncatchable for the promotion places, Wagner didn't give a damn about Huddersfield's results then, or about the perceived advantage of home leg first etc....his sole concern was on protecting his best players, protecting them from yellow cards, injuries or fatigue that would either prevent or inhibit their appearance in the play-offs.

While Wagner spent the rest of the Season with Huddersfield soft pedalling, with players not really deserving to have a first team shirt getting one handed to them, it had consequences for other clubs, such as effectively relegatiing Blackburn Rovers. The farcical game whereby Huddersfield with their 10 changes, lost to a hopeless Birmingham side, was one of the best, or should that be 'worst' examples. Birmingham were reduced to 10 men after 23 minutes, but still managed to go on and score two goals and win against the Huddersfield Reserves that Wagner had put out that day.





Link - Mowbray: 'We're Victims of The Play-Offs'




Of course Blackburn's Mowbray isn't pleased, as he contemplates League One football next season, when even a draw in the game mentioned above would have kept Rovers up. But who blames Wagner ? He's currently enjoying the Portuguese sunshine with his Huddersfield players, and when they come back they've only got to win one match and the hundreds of millions of Premier League money will be theirs, plus the guaranteed years of massive parachute payments should they come straight back down. Sod Blackburn, sod fair play....Huddersfield didn't invent the play-off system, but are using it to their best advantage.

And just listen to the fuss about the kick off time for (Community Owned ) Exeter's play-off first leg game at Carlisle. Think about the Exeter fans we were told. Yet those Exeter fans, along with supporters of all play-off involved clubs, were already guaranteed a home game to watch. Contrast that with the National League next season where fans will be urging their side to get to 6th or 7th place, only to find that from then on, they as supporters, will be shut out of proceedings. Only away games from then on, or a desperately expensive Wembley trip. A good many supporters just can't get to away games, particularly if they're mid-week. The current system of giving all fans of play-off teams a home game to watch is now scrapped at our level.

And even if you had a job that allowed it, and plenty of money, just how much would it cost a fan of the 6th or 7th placed team to have travelled to two away games, plus the even more expensive Wembley game, all within a fairly short time frame ?


Weakened teams (and that means severely weakened at National League level) making a lottery of important matches effecting relegation issues, no longer a home match to watch for fans of two play-off teams, and what you lose in fairness you gain in talking points  .

Well played Blackpool...the right team won all day long...

After the exciting spectacle of the F.A Cup final, this was a cagey affair with two hours of football that wouldn't have got the pulses of neutral viewers racing.

Irrespective of a safety first approach, negative goal difference, and fielding below strength sides during the run-in, I'm sure many will welcome Huddersfield's promotion. I'm only too happy to see fixtures such as Burnley v Huddersfield once again being top division clashes, rather than a club like Reading, that oozes Southern middle class affluence (no wonder Waitrose identified them as the club to sponsor) taking another Premier League spot.

So let's kick off the 'colour' section with a black & white view of Leeds Road, Huddersfield, as it was back in the 1930's. 
 






Less pleasant information might be finding out what the Huddersfield's Season ticket holders will be paying to watch Chelsea, and comparing it to what we'll have to fork out to watch AFC Fylde  link- Huddersfield Season Tickets 2017/18

              

A colourful flourish to finish off with, as Schindler indicates it's time to start listing Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea among the sides destined to visit Huddersfield next season, thanks to his winning penalty that clinched promotion for The Terriers yesterday.

My gratitude to Hector for spotting and correcting that error. It was indeed Derby County, and the considerable financial cutbacks they will need to make next season that I had been reading about, which may well have prompted Gary Rowett to head off in the direction of Stoke instead. Just checking The Rams wikipedia page it says:


Derby failed to finish in the play-offs the following season, which saw McClaren sacked as local-businessman Mel Morris assumed control. Morris oversaw a level of spending unprecedented in Derby's history over the following three years, breaking the clubs transfer record four times, but also saw an unprecedented managerial turnover as went through six managers between June 2015 and May 2017. In this three-season period, Derby qualified for the play-offs twice, but failed to get past the semi-finals on both occasions.

Perhaps no surprise therefore that FFP regulations might kick in to hinder Derby's progress next season, although not enough of a concern to dissuade Frank Lampard Jnr from becoming the new Manager at Pride Park today.

With Aston Villa losing the play-off final, as well as John Terry's considerable influence for next season, among the BBC's report yesterday were these words from the club Chairman:


"We are all aware we will face severe Financial Fair Play challenges next season. Villa needs to be a sustainable football club. We have been heavily investing for the past two seasons. However, the loss on Saturday means that we need to change a lot of things."

Under a new set of FFP regulations agreed in November 2014, Championship clubs are not permitted to lose more than £39m over a three-season period. Xia, who bought the club in June 2016, has spent a large amount in his two years at the club, with Scott Hogan, Ross McCormack and Jonathan Kodjia all joining for fees in excess of £10m.


At Championiship level at least, it seems you're allowed to drive flat out for 2 or 3 laps, but then are forced to take it easy to conserve your tyres. Whereas at Plainmoor, we hope to be able to not only provide Gary Owers with a promotion budget, but also in tandem, take farther steps towards long term sustainability, by making more progress towards a move to a revenue generating modern stadium. Plenty of time to plan for those financial rules that we'll have to comply with once we've risen to Championship level