Premier League plans play-off for last CL place

[weybridgewanderer]

what is the chances these play offs would be played in the far east for some bumper pay out

takes away the problem of league fixtures/season ticket holders for playing a league game in the far east

[Royal With Cheese]

What a great idea.

I'd extend this to the top 20 teams playing for the play off places in a, sort of, league system. Home and away each week over 9 or so months. Top 4 go through.

[leww_rfc]

Give it to the FA Cup winners.

I agree, with Jimmy Kebe in our team we're on our way to Europe.

[Rex]

There was the discussion that this would push the mid table teams to actually aim for something other than safety. Agreed though that it could be a more subversive way of generating more SKY revenue. I cannot really see this getting off the ground. I take it that CL winners will not be automatically entered if they fail to gain auto of qualify through this mini comp.

[PlasticRoyale]

Are we guaranteed 4 spots? I thought it was because we do well in Europe that our league is seen as better quality and receives the 4 spots.

Do we run the risk of losing that 4th spot if we let dross sneak in through the play-offs

[papereyes]

Are we guaranteed 4 spots? I thought it was because we do well in Europe that our league is seen as better quality and receives the 4 spots.

Do we run the risk of losing that 4th spot if we let dross sneak in through the play-offs

Only if they don't win matches. My hunch would be they'd be good enough to get the group stages but what happens there would be hit and miss at first.

[papereyes]

There was the discussion that this would push the mid table teams to actually aim for something other than safety. Agreed though that it could be a more subversive way of generating more SKY revenue. I cannot really see this getting off the ground. I take it that CL winners will not be automatically entered if they fail to gain auto of qualify through this mini comp.

Here's a thought -

Champions league has E600 m 'prize money' shared amongst 32 clubs- of which 50 % is based on your TV market and 50 % based on performance.

UEFA cup has about E40 m.

Take 10% of the Champions league money and redistribute to the UEFA cup, with most of it paid towards the later stages of the tournament. Rejig the CL prize money so more of it is based on success in group stages and progression in the later stages.

Currently, teams make a loss on a UEFA cup campaign - no wonder its seen as a booby prize. The reason the Top 4 is so cemented is that there exists a financial step between 4th and 5th. In the 08/09 season, the gap in prize money between 4th and 5th was £25 million, half the total prize money earned by the lower placed club, Everton.

[TheMaraudingDog]

Currently they're in 4th, which I'm sure you know I meant

[Silver Fox]

[26-10-06]

How about...

The team who finish fourth, automatically in the "play off" final

Teams who finish sixth and seventh, play each other in a one of game, at a neutral ground.

The winner of sixth vs seventh, plays the team who finished fifth

Winner out of 6th/7th vs 5th plays 4th.

[Dirk Gently]

How about...

The team who finish fourth, automatically in the "play off" final

Teams who finish sixth and seventh, play each other in a one of game, at a neutral ground.

The winner of sixth vs seventh, plays the team who finished fifth

Winner out of 6th/7th vs 5th plays 4th.

On the surface, that does seem better, but the 4th place team actually has a disadvantage because they don't play competitively while they wait for the other 3 teams to sort themselves out (a minimum of 15.5 to 2 weeks - while the team they play comes into the P-O final in form and having played more recently.

[SpaceCruiser]

PL say no, mainly cos the Big 4 say no.

Source: BBC.

[Franchise FC]

Bad idea imo. It's bad enough that the team who finishes 4th goes into the Champions League, let alone a team finishing 7th.

The fact that 3 teams who win nothing get into the champions league isn't going to change, you might as well add a bit of competition to the fact

More competition than the previous 38 games.

And exactly how long after the end of the season are these games going to be played. Going to be absolutely cracking in Euro's or World Cup years.