Premier League plans play-off for last Champion League place

[jrb]

Good idea or bad?

Premier League plans play-off for last Champions League place
• Team as low as seventh could be given chance to qualify
• Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool object

The Premier League is considering introducing a play-off system to determine the fourth club to qualify for the following season's European Champions League.

Currently the club which finishes fourth goes through but the new proposal would mean a play-off between the clubs finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. The intention is to inject more competition into a league in which qualification has for years remained in the hands of the same four clubs.

Premier League sources have confirmed that the play-off proposal was presented at the most recent meeting of all clubs, on 4 February, and the league's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, was authorised to return with further details in April.

It is understood that the idea was enthusiastically supported by all clubs – except the so-called big four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Scudamore, and the league's secretary, Mike Foster, will examine the practicalities of how a play-off system could work: whether it should take the form of a home-and-away knockout system, similar to that in the Football League, or incorporate seeding. They will also look into when matches could be fitted into a crowded fixture calendar before making recommendations.

The idea was presented as part of the Premier League's strategic review of its format and operations and springs from two particular motivations. The first is to crack the problem of England's top league becoming less open and competitive, with the richest clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, having strengthened their hold on the top four places over several years. One league source said it was an odd twist that the idea has been raised now, in a season when Liverpool's claim to the fourth place is being seriously challenged.

The response among clubs outside the top four is understood to have been positive, with some believing that a play-off system would create more competitive matches and give more clubs a prize to challenge for. Most clubs now feel they have no chance of attaining fourth place but almost the whole Premier League could be brought into a competition to finish seventh and make it to the play-offs. The medium-sized clubs, which increasingly aspire to break the cartel, are said to have been enthusiastic, seeing play-offs as a great opportunity.

The big four, who have been qualifying on merit at the end of each season and reaping the footballing and financial rewards of Champions League participation are understood to have been less keen. Self-interest is clearly a factor, with those clubs concerned about protecting their own advantages. However, there is also a feeling that the league should be more sophisticated about addressing its major challenges, particularly the financial ones, rather than incorpor-ating an awkward play-off system for a prize as ostensibly moderate as fourth place.

The other motivation for the play-offs is a waning of the proposal for an international round of matches, dubbed "Game 39", which was widely criticised for lacking coherence and being territorially expansionist. The play-offs would mean extra matches, which would be sold to pay-television and so generate more money for all clubs.

The consistent qualification of the same four clubs, widely seen as stifling competition, is not replicated across Europe. The Premier League largely blames the Uefa Champions League money, distributed to participating clubs, for entrenching the big four's financial power. Uefa, however, points out that Champions League income represents a small part, 8–13%, of Manchester United's, Chelsea's, Arsenal's and Liverpool's total turnover. Most of the big clubs' money is made in this country; Premier League television income is relatively evenly distributed but United, Chelsea and Arsenal in particular make much more than their nearest rivals from commercial activities and match-day revenues in the Premier League.

The Dutch league tried a play-off system for the second Champions League qualification place but abandoned it after the 2007-08 season, when FC Twente Enschede beat Ajax 2-1. The issues in Holland were the risk of crowd trouble at such high-stakes matches and a perception that the play-offs were one-sided.

In the Premier League there is some confidence that neither of those would present major problems. As a means of encouraging competition, opportunities and increasing income, the play-off proposal already seems to have enough support to suggest it could gain the necessary 14-6 majority to be implemented.

 

[chaddblue]

How about 4th, 5th, 6th and FA Cup winners

Might stop certain teams treating the competition as an unwanted distraction

 

[mancunial]

top four won,t like that?

 

[Regular Joe]

How about 4th, 5th, 6th and FA Cup winners

Might stop certain teams treating the competition as an unwanted distraction

Was just about to post the same. In fact, go the whole hog and make it 4th, 5th, Carling Cup and FA Cup winners.

 

[pee dubya]

They do a similar thing in the Netherlands i think.

Would be pretty annoying if you finished 4th, below 3rd on goal difference, ahead of 5th by 10 points, then lose out in the play-offs.

Dramatic though, and another big event to for sky to hype up.

 

[jrb]

The 39th game. Remember. Played abroad.

 

[mancmackem]

Will never happen due to the influence Chelsea/Arsenal/Eww have over the league.

Think Liverpool are screwed in the long term so they may not like it in the short term, but warm to it in the longer term.

 

[Regular Joe]

Would be pretty annoying if you finished 4th, below 3rd on goal difference, ahead of 5th by 10 points, then lose out in the play-offs.

Only the same as those who finish 3rd in the football league and have to go through the play-offs now. In my opinion a team finishing 4th has hardly earned the right to play in the 'Champions' League anyway.

 

[unexpected item]

Good idea imo, but you can bet that we will finish 4th the first year they implement it and lose the playoff final to some bizarre set of circumstances.

 

[Xavvi]

That FA Cup idea is stupid as you like, no offense to whoever came up with it. The thought of Dagenham and Redbridge potentially representing English football at the highest level would surely have the FA's pants twitching...

Good idea in theory but it needs work and the whole thing is a bit degrading. It would definitely see a few relegation-threatejed managers lose their rags.