Are Play-Offs Needed?
Sitting talking to a few friends yesterday saw the comment wing its way that any league that doesn’t have play-offs is out of touch with the times.
Nursing my drink, I thought about this and the consequences that adding the concept of play-offs to football mundial leagues may have.
Coming back to this situation in a moment, I am also fortunate to be part of a wonderful non-league club whose league also plays a straight 2 up/2 down promotion/relegation system and has done since the beginning of time. Have I felt cheated by the outcome? Has my enjoyment of the league and the end of season races been diminished by having no play-offs? If I’m totally honest, the answer is no. This could be because my team has never been involved in them, but I like to think that the simple answer is that they have no place in football in my opinion (and I stress that this is indeed my opinion, like anything in the office, we have a range of different views).
Some people will argue that they add to the excitement of the season, you battle hard to finish in the top six therefore you deserve your shot at promotion, but surely that begs the question if you finish 2nd, don’t you deserve more of a shot then the team that finished 6th? Of course all these points were raised and discussed, rather fiercely in certain quarters, when the FA first introduced the concept. Some people even went so far as to accuse the football governing body of introducing a lottery for clubs (after all promotion does equate to financial benefits) and also, was it not cheating and unfair to the clubs that finished higher than the others. As with these things, at least merit, if not the ultimate answer, can be find in many of the arguments put forward.
Returning back to football mundial, the subject of play-offs remains fairly staccato in movement. It’s not something that we feel can be successfully introduced and to be honest, we don’t think it would add anything to the leagues. Of course, things may change, we have to listen when regulatory bodies speak, but we are in a position were we can look at things with a more balanced view and hopefully you agree that play-offs wouldn’t do anything to add to the set-up.
Of course, we always welcome your view on matters of the games you play. It is an emotive subject, just like football, and we will always listen. After all you want the best and so do we.