Thank heavens for the play-offs | Vital Football

Thank heavens for the play-offs

G

gills69

Vital Squad Member
Here we are, with 6 games left, sitting in 8th place a full 11 points off the promotion places.

For the next couple of games at least, whatever happens, we'll still be in with a chance of extending our season into May and might, just might, be celebrating promotion.

At times like this I can't help thinking back to the days when, by now - and probably for the last few weeks - our season would have already been over and attending games would have been more akin to watching pre-season friendlies.

I can't believe it's 37 years since the play-offs were introduced and at the time I recall thinking that they were an un-necessary gimmick. The excitement of being part of them in the very first season soon changed my view and I remain grateful for the extra 'competitive' games I've ben able to watch every season since.

I don't know who originally thought up the concept or signed off applying it to English football but I'm really glad they did.
 
If the regulations were the same as 37 years ago the chances of making the play off's would totally hang on getting a win today.
For anyone not working out why Sunderland were one of the first and only teams in the Football League to get relegated through the play off's. The first season saw one team from the league above involved in the play off's and only 3 potential promotion competing teams.
 
I agree with the point that the playoffs ensure more teams have something to play for at this stage of the season, which is definitely a good thing.

I would though prefer to see the system slightly more weighted in favour of the teams finishing higher. You can sometimes get 15pts or so between the team in 4th and the team in 7th. Something similar to what they do in the National League would be better - they have 4th v 7th and 5th v 6th in one-off ties, with home advantage to the higher placed team, then 2nd at home to the winner of one of those, and 3rd at home to the other in one-leg semi-finals.

Think 6 teams is excessive for the play-offs though in the case of League 2, where you've got 3 going up automatically. Maybe in that case, either have one-leg semis, 4th v 7th and 5th v 6th, with home advantage for the higher placed team. Or else have 6th v 7th, winner goes on to play 5th, winner of that goes on to play 4th in the final.
 
One of the best changes ever made to English football. Keeps the season alive for half of the clubs until the last few weeks.

I remember a couple of seasons between late 70’s and late 80’s, where despite having good seasons and finishing 5th, 6th etc we basically had no chance of autos a month or 2 before the end of season and crowds dropped right off.

Just checked. 84/85 and 85/86 we finished 4th and 5th respectively. Last 2 or 3 home games each season saw sub 3k crowds. Just 2050 saw us play Bristol Rovers May 86.

Although TBF, our regular following was only around 4k to 5k.
 
OneSirKeefy said:
One of the best changes ever made to English football. Keeps the season alive for half of the clubs until the last few weeks.

I remember a couple of seasons between late 70’s and late 80’s, where despite having good seasons and finishing 5th, 6th etc we basically had no chance of autos a month or 2 before the end of season and crowds dropped right off.

Just checked. 84/85 and 85/86 we finished 4th and 5th respectively. Last 2 or 3 home games each season saw sub 3k crowds. Just 2050 saw us play Bristol Rovers May 86.

Although TBF, our regular following was only around 4k to 5k.
Click to expand...
For those who never lived in Medway. The mid eighties saw Chatham dockyard closing and many other businesses closing or laying off people as a result. It was the last time I worked within the Medway towns which given that I lived there from 1998 to 2020 perhaps shows that the towns never really recovered. Pre the mid eighties Chatham was a very productive town.Hard to believe now. But people would travel from all over the county to come shopping there.
 
Last edited:
madrid_gill said:
I agree with the point that the playoffs ensure more teams have something to play for at this stage of the season, which is definitely a good thing.

I would though prefer to see the system slightly more weighted in favour of the teams finishing higher. You can sometimes get 15pts or so between the team in 4th and the team in 7th. Something similar to what they do in the National League would be better - they have 4th v 7th and 5th v 6th in one-off ties, with home advantage to the higher placed team, then 2nd at home to the winner of one of those, and 3rd at home to the other in one-leg semi-finals.

Think 6 teams is excessive for the play-offs though in the case of League 2, where you've got 3 going up automatically. Maybe in that case, either have one-leg semis, 4th v 7th and 5th v 6th, with home advantage for the higher placed team. Or else have 6th v 7th, winner goes on to play 5th, winner of that goes on to play 4th in the final.
Click to expand...
That's clear then.🤔
 
I thought as recently as the last Q&A, Jackett was still expressing optimism about achieving automatic promotion, wasn't he?
 
GillsBluenose said:
I thought as recently as the last Q&A, Jackett was still expressing optimism about achieving automatic promotion, wasn't he?
Click to expand...

He said something along the lines of automatics weren’t out of reach (think they were 8 points away at the time) but that we’d need to get our skates on and start picking up points.




We’re still looking for our skates.
 
Play offs were originally conceived cause they wanted to reduce the size of the top division, which went from 22 to 21 then 20. Once this was achieved they were kept but only for teams competing for promotion.

It must have boosted clubs financially over the years, there must be very few clubs not played at Wembley now.
 
I disagree.

The "promise" of the playoffs for us has stopped this team from making much tactical/footballing progress in the second half of the season.
 
chris who said:
For those who never lived in Medway. The mid eighties saw Chatham dockyard closing and many other businesses closing or laying off people as a result. It was the last time I worked within the Medway towns which given that I lived there from 1998 to 2020 perhaps shows that the towns never really recovered. Pre the mid eighties Chatham was a very productive town.Hard to believe now. But people would travel from all over the county to come shopping there.
Click to expand...

I remember going shopping in Chatham with my mum in the 80s…. You couldn’t pay me to do that now 😂
 
chris who said:
For those who never lived in Medway. The mid eighties saw Chatham dockyard closing and many other businesses closing or laying off people as a result. It was the last time I worked within the Medway towns which given that I lived there from 1998 to 2020 perhaps shows that the towns never really recovered. Pre the mid eighties Chatham was a very productive town.Hard to believe now. But people would travel from all over the county to come shopping there.
Click to expand...
Anyone else here shop at Images in Chatham? They also opened one in Maidstone. Whatever happened to them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.