Play Offs Quarter Finals

[nw6pie]

Totally agree with Getsmart, Barnet v Boreham Wood should be played on the Wednesday.

Must admit, I was thinking this at the weekend - why does the third-placed team get the advantage over the second-placed team? And why does the 5th-placed team have the advantage of 24 hours more rest than the 4th-placed team before their potential semifinals?

Of course, the logical thing to do would be to play both quarterfinal games on the Tuesday night, but then BT Sport would only get to show one of them.

[Old_pie]

Must admit, I was thinking this at the weekend - why does the third-placed team get the advantage over the second-placed team? And why does the 5th-placed team have the advantage of 24 hours more rest than the 4th-placed team before their potential semifinals?

Of course, the logical thing to do would be to play both quarterfinal games on the Tuesday night, but then BT Sport would only get to show one of them.

The really logical thing would be for the postions in the league table, dictated over a season, to determine who gets promoted.

I detest the gimmick of play-offs as much as I detest the sprint races being introduced into F1. Artificial money-making artifacts.

[ancientpie]

The really logical thing would be for the postions in the league table, dictated over a season, to determine who gets promoted.

I detest the gimmick of play-offs as much as I detest the sprint races being introduced into F1. Artificial money-making artifacts.

Completely disagree, can you imagine if that had been the case this season ? it would have been over months ago instead of which interest & therefor ***** income has been maintained for 8 or 9 clubs. As a fellow "oldie" there are many "gimmicks" that I don't agree with but the Play Offs aint 1 of them.

[Old_pie]

Completely disagree, can you imagine if that had been the case this season ? it would have been over months ago instead of which interest & therefor ***** income has been maintained for 8 or 9 clubs. As a fellow "oldie" there are many "gimmicks" that I don't agree with but the Play Offs aint 1 of them.

I understand the rationale behind play-offs. For me that does not override the principle that the top teams get promoted. The penalty of the current system is that an official's decision, or an untimely injury or tackle, allows a lesser team to go up.

May as well do away with the leagues and contrive an exciting knock out format with random draws out of the hat, bit like Russian roulette. Keep the interest and the crowds going for every game.

[upthemaggies]

I understand the rationale behind play-offs. For me that does not override the principle that the top teams get promoted. The penalty of the current system is that an official's decision, or an untimely injury or tackle, allows a lesser team to go up.

May as well do away with the leagues and contrive an exciting knock out format with random draws out of the hat, bit like Russian roulette. Keep the interest and the crowds going for every game.

At least they aren't as unjust as the "test match" system in its' initial format introduced in 1893 in which the bottom 3 of tier 1 played the top 3 in tier 2.
Notts got relegated in 3rd bottom that season after losing their test match, yet Man Utd who finished rock bottom (3 wins adrift of Notts) stayed up because they won theirs. This also meant that the champions of the 2nd tier didn't go up, whilst 2nd and 3rd *were* promoted. We lost in that system 3 seasons running, eventually going back up when it was changed to a group system.

With hindsight, the modern day play offs should have been introduced in 1973/74 with the increase in promotion/relegation from 2 to 3 places, then they could have been framed as a bonus promotion spot and the sense of injustice wouldn't have been so acute. They probably would have done much to stave off the decline in gates during the late 70s and early 80s as well and - more importantly - we might have gone up before Fword.

[slack_pie]

I understand the rationale behind play-offs. For me that does not override the principle that the top teams get promoted. The penalty of the current system is that an official's decision, or an untimely injury or tackle, allows a lesser team to go up.

May as well do away with the leagues and contrive an exciting knock out format with random draws out of the hat, bit like Russian roulette. Keep the interest and the crowds going for every game.

It is a bit weird that a team can finish 30 points higher over the course of an entire season, but all that no longer counts, and instead a couple of one-off matched decide who gets promoted. Notts clearly deserve to be playing a division higher, not Boreham Wood or Bromley or whoever. We're clearly better than those teams because the table tells us so. Yet here we are.

On the flipside, I do understand that playoffs keep a sense of competition alive and make a season exciting right until the end. But in terms of pure sporting fairness and integrity, it doesn't hold up well.

I suppose everyone knows the rules to begin with, so we can't have much to complain about.

[Notts78]

It is a bit weird that a team can finish 30 points higher over the course of an entire season, but all that no longer counts, and instead a couple of one-off matched decide who gets promoted. Notts clearly deserve to be playing a division higher, not Boreham Wood or Bromley or whoever. We're clearly better than those teams because the table tells us so. Yet here we are.

On the flipside, I do understand that playoffs keep a sense of competition alive and make a season exciting right until the end. But in terms of pure sporting fairness and integrity, it doesn't hold up well.

I suppose everyone knows the rules to begin with, so we can't have much to complain about.

All this is true Slack. I’d like to add that Notts are so far ahead of these teams in points accrued that in theory we should be so far ahead when we play. The only thing that can stop us is the sense of entitlement and thus feeling sorry for ourselves. We finished 2nd, then is the rules. I’ve said it many times already, if we play to our potential we wipe the floor with any side in the play offs.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

It is a bit weird that a team can finish 30 points higher over the course of an entire season, but all that no longer counts, and instead a couple of one-off matched decide who gets promoted. Notts clearly deserve to be playing a division higher, not Boreham Wood or Bromley or whoever. We're clearly better than those teams because the table tells us so. Yet here we are.

On the flipside, I do understand that playoffs keep a sense of competition alive and make a season exciting right until the end. But in terms of pure sporting fairness and integrity, it doesn't hold up well.

I suppose everyone knows the rules to begin with, so we can't have much to complain about.

What it has done is open up the conversation about two automatic promotion places at this level when you have two teams finishing on +105 points.

It’s about time the national league was realigned with other leagues and we have three up and three down from L2.

If that were the case we would have secured automatic promotion as runners up which in sporting terms is fair. A runner up in any professional football league should get automatic promotion.

If it were three down from L2 Crawley and Wimbledon would be fighting it out on the last day. Herein lies the problem. Turkeys voting for Christmas. The question is are either of those two teams better than Barnet, Boreham Wood, Bromley or Chesterfield? Doubtful.

The evidence is there from those that come down and those that go up. Look in recent years Southend, Oldham, Sc.unthorpe. The exception being Grimsby who bounced straight back neither have set this league alight. For Sc.unthorpe they’ve not been able to halt their slide. In the other direction nobody has returned in the time we’ve been in this league apart from Hartlepool who have had three seasons in L2. They couldn’t carry on what Dave Challinor started.

Will anything change? Or when all has been sorted and the dust has settled will this season be confined to the history books as one of the most freakiest seasons in National League or even professional football history?

[Notts78]

What it has done is open up the conversation about two automatic promotion places at this level when you have two teams finishing on +105 points.

It’s about time the national league was realigned with other leagues and we have three up and three down from L2.

If that were the case we would have secured automatic promotion as runners up which in sporting terms is fair. A runner up in any professional football league should get automatic promotion.

If it were three down from L2 Crawley and Wimbledon would be fighting it out on the last day. Herein lies the problem. Turkeys voting for Christmas. The question is are either of those two teams better than Barnet, Boreham Wood, Bromley or Chesterfield? Doubtful.

The evidence is there from those that come down and those that go up. Look in recent years Southend, Oldham, Sc.unthorpe. The exception being Grimsby who bounced straight back neither have set this league alight. For Sc.unthorpe they’ve not been able to halt their slide. In the other direction nobody has returned in the time we’ve been in this league apart from Hartlepool who have had three seasons in L2. They couldn’t carry on what Dave Challinor started.

What’s worse is that statistically you have a greater chance of being relegated from the National League. League 2 wants everything their way. 4 up but 2 down. Yet our league is 2 up and 4 down.

[Elite_Pie]

Will anything change? Or when all has been sorted and the dust has settled will this season be confined to the history books as one of the most freakiest seasons in National League or even professional football history?

Probably the latter. It will change eventually because it's merited, the NL is now a genuine Division 5. What might have hurried the change is if we had got top spot and Wrexham didn't go up via the playoffs. Wrexham will probably get more publicity than the other 23 League 2 teams put together, and will enhance League 2 massively. If the vote for change is down to the clubs, the votes will be based on self interest alone. The EFL need to push it, why would they want to deny such as Notts, Chesterfield, Oldham, Southend etc being part of their product simply to retain clubs like Crawley?