Excitement of the play-offs
Could the Premier League benefit from a play-off system?
The Premier League season finally grinded to a halt yesterday and what a year it has been.
We’ve had Chelsea winning the league under manager Antonio Conte, even though many people had written them off when they lost 3-0 to Arsenal in September to leave them eighth in the table.
Then there was the puzzling decline of Leicester City under Claudio Ranieri when they looked a former shadow of the side that had won the title the previous year.
We’ve also had an enthralling relegation battle where it looked like Marco Silva’s Hull City would scrape survival only for his unblemished home record to come to a surprising halt against Sunderland to undo all of their hard work.
However, the season has also been over for a lot of teams in the Premier League for a number of matches now, with only league places to compete for.
Which begs the question-could the Premier League benefit from a play-off system?
What the play-offs bring to the table
The play-offs are one of the most anticipated matches in the football calendar and one that every fan involved will either love or hate.
All of your season boiling down to one final game, just 90 minutes separating you from your dream of promotion.
They were first introduced into the Football League in 1987 and were created so that teams fighting in mid-table could still have something to play for at the end of the season.
The Premier League has never seen the need to introduce this same system due to European places sometimes going down to seventh place in the league.
However, is there a way we could we make the most entertaining league in the world, even better?
Bundesliga example
Since its reinstatement in 2008/09 the Bundesliga has employed a two-legged play-off system that determines which clubs stay up or go down.
There are 18 teams in the top division, with the bottom two teams automatically relegated, and the 16th placed side having to face a play-off match against the team finishing third in the league below.
For example, if this system was employed in England now, it would see Hull City pitted against Reading for a place in the Premier League.
This would give teams in the top division one more final chance to stay in the division and also add extra drama at the end of the season.
Obviously, fans in the Championship may feel hard done by if this system ever came into place but it could work if the winners of the play-offs as it stands now, plays the team in 18th place.
This would still ensure we keep the huge advantages of the play-offs in England’s second division.
Champions League play-offs
Another example of introducing a play-off system into the Premier League could be by allowing fourth and fifth place to have a one-game decider.
Using this year’s league table, it would pit Liverpool against Arsenal and would ensure teams finishing outside the top-four could still grab a Champions League spot.
This has perhaps been one of the most competitive battles for a place in Europe’s elite competition, but it hasn’t been so close in recent years.
It could give teams such as Everton a real chance of qualifying for the Champions League instead of just finishing in the usual top-6.
Still a long way to go
Obviously, there is still a long way to go before we see anything of this nature introduced into the Premier League.
There will be obstacles to get past such as even more fixture congestion and price worries for fans who may have to add a few extra trips on to their schedule, possibly to Wembley.
However, surely these are only small problems to solve for the sake of ensuring more games go down to the final wire, and not many fans would turn down some end-of-season drama.
So is it finally time to start implementing this system to make the world’s greatest league, even better?
