Play-off plans for last Champions League place require further thought
It is being reported today that the Premier League are giving serious consideration to the idea of a play-off for the Champions League spot traditionally awarded to the team finishing in fourth place. Is this a well founded idea or simply another revenue generating opportunity?
The prospect of a team finishing in 5th, 6th or 7th place qualifying for Europe’s premier competition will probably be welcomed by those that are continually knocking on the door of the league’s top four. Aston Villa, Manchester City, Tottenham and, to a lesser extent this season, Everton, could not be blamed for supporting this venture.
As most teams who have been involved in the Football League play-offs in recent times can testify, the system is a lottery which does not always result in the form team for the season triumphing. The chance to catch the fourth placed team on a bad day and beat them to a lucrative place in the Champions League is not one that most sides are likely to pass up.
It’s therefore hardly surprising then that Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have been less responsive to the suggestion (although Liverpool may become more supportive should their challenge for fourth spot fade away this season). And that is fair enough. On a virtually annual basis they cement their position as the country’s leading quartet and deserve the chance to be the country’s representatives in Europe.
Would it really be good enough for the Premier League to send its seventh best team to represent England against Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan et al? Under the proposition, last season Fulham would have been in with a shout of making it to the tournament, as would Blackburn Rovers the season before.
There is also the prospect that the play-off system would make sides less ambitious in striving to break into the top four. If you are comfortably sitting in fifth or sixth position at the tail end of the season, what incentive is there to push on for fourth spot? Surely the more logical thing to do would be to take your foot off the gas and rest up players for the play-offs.
Whilst you are unlikely to hear many of the teams in contention complaining, it would also add to an already overcrowded fixture list. Players face the prospect of little rest time, especially when considering there is the need to qualify for the Champions League group stages at the start of the following season.
All things considered, the idea of a play-off system throws up some exciting possibilities, not least for those clubs regularly in the mix at the top half of the table. However, it throws up logistical problems and credibility issues which need to be carefully thought through before any commitments are made. Whilst the chance of added revenue for clubs is not to be sniffed at, it should not come at any cost.
