by Remember Colo » Tue Oct 13, 2020 6:58 pm
Bodacious Benny wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:35 am
Remember Colo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 4:47 am
Sure, it's a pointless friendly, but the clubs participating would be playing a pointless friendly that weekend anyway - so what's the harm in keeping the tradition? And my issue with that playoffs structure is that the gulf in revenue/budget is so wide between the PL and Championship that it puts the PL 16th place club at such an advantage and serves as just another way to consolidate power among PL clubs (and an offering to try and get the existing lower table sides potentially on board).
I'd actually say that finances aside, the gap in footballing ability between top end Championship and bottom end PL has shrunk massively over the past few years or more. There's not much in it now. Historically you'd predict/expect all promoted teams to go straight back down, but if you look at the past 5 seasons:
14/15: Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich came up, only Norwich went straight back down and the other two had 5 years in the PL.
15/16: Burnley, Boro and Hull came up, Burnely survived and are still in the PL.
16/17: Us, Brighton and Huddersfield came up - all three survived and 2/3 still in PL now.
17/18: Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham came up, Wolves stayed up and are still in the PL.
18/19: Norwich, Sheffield Utd and Villa came up, only Norwich went straight back down.
So of the 15 promoted teams, 9 stayed in the PL for one season with 6 going straight back down. The gulf in finances may be there for sure, but the gulf in footballing ability isn't.
I probably shouldn't suggest that's the case now, but looking forward and especially if this came to fruition, I could see the PL doing everything possible to consolidate more of the wealth and further build a gap from the Championship. We've also seen a lot of clubs in the Championship risk their finances for promotion chances, but how sustainable is that? And it's hard to compare the sides when they're in the Championship (when they would be playing the playoff), and their performance in the PL after likely spending the promotion windfall to improve before the new season. Plus the ones that have stayed up and done well often were the ones in the automatic promotion places, not the ones who would be playing in this theoretical playoff.
Ultimately, the footballing gap may be close, but I don't know why the third-last club in the league deserves more protecting, and the Championship playoffs are already such an incredibly exciting format - why change it for the benefit of a mediocre PL club?
[quote="Bodacious Benny" post_id=879497 time=1602581720 user_id=140]
[quote="Remember Colo" post_id=879494 time=1602564422 user_id=108]
Sure, it's a pointless friendly, but the clubs participating would be playing a pointless friendly that weekend anyway - so what's the harm in keeping the tradition? And my issue with that playoffs structure is that the gulf in revenue/budget is so wide between the PL and Championship that it puts the PL 16th place club at such an advantage and serves as just another way to consolidate power among PL clubs (and an offering to try and get the existing lower table sides potentially on board).
[/quote]
I'd actually say that finances aside, the gap in footballing ability between top end Championship and bottom end PL has shrunk massively over the past few years or more. There's not much in it now. Historically you'd predict/expect all promoted teams to go straight back down, but if you look at the past 5 seasons:
14/15: Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich came up, only Norwich went straight back down and the other two had 5 years in the PL.
15/16: Burnley, Boro and Hull came up, Burnely survived and are still in the PL.
16/17: Us, Brighton and Huddersfield came up - all three survived and 2/3 still in PL now.
17/18: Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham came up, Wolves stayed up and are still in the PL.
18/19: Norwich, Sheffield Utd and Villa came up, only Norwich went straight back down.
So of the 15 promoted teams, 9 stayed in the PL for one season with 6 going straight back down. The gulf in finances may be there for sure, but the gulf in footballing ability isn't.
[/quote]
I probably shouldn't suggest that's the case now, but looking forward and especially if this came to fruition, I could see the PL doing everything possible to consolidate more of the wealth and further build a gap from the Championship. We've also seen a lot of clubs in the Championship risk their finances for promotion chances, but how sustainable is that? And it's hard to compare the sides when they're in the Championship (when they would be playing the playoff), and their performance in the PL after likely spending the promotion windfall to improve before the new season. Plus the ones that have stayed up and done well often were the ones in the automatic promotion places, not the ones who would be playing in this theoretical playoff.
Ultimately, the footballing gap may be close, but I don't know why the third-last club in the league deserves more protecting, and the Championship playoffs are already such an incredibly exciting format - why change it for the benefit of a mediocre PL club?
