Birmingham City are among the teams trying to get out of the Championship this season
Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail
EFL Puma ball on Sky Bet Championship plinth
Birmingham City and their Championship rivals could have six play-off places to fight for in future after a recent EFL meeting saw an idea to expand the promotion picture brought to the table.
The Championship, League One and League Two currently have an end-of-season play-offs contested by four teams across two two-legged semi-finals and a showpiece final at Wembley.
But it is being proposed that in the Championship at least, the play-offs could become a battle between six teams.
It is proposed that the teams finishing in seventh and eighth will also earn play-off places but they will have to play fifth and sixth to earn a two-legged tie with the sides that finish third and fourth.
The team that finishes fifth would host eighth in a one-off game and the club in sixth would host seventh, adding to the drama at the end of the season and reducing the number of dead-rubbers.
The victors of those two matches would then face off against the third and fourth-placed teams in the usual two-legged semi-finals before the Wembley final.
Is it a good idea? Club reporters from a clutch of Championship clubs have had their say…
Alex Dicken (BirminghamLive)
Whilst I can understand the frustration of the team finishing third missing out on promotion, I love the drama of the play-offs and the pressure on the Wembley final makes it one of the best games in the football calendar.
Adding another two teams and matches into the mix can only be a good thing.
The proposal would still protect the participation of third and fourth-placed teams in the ordinary two-legged play-offs which is important, but it would provide another layer to the fun.
It must also be said that there is usually very little to choose between the teams in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth – six points in 21/22, two points in 22/23, six points in 23/24 and three points in 24/25.
By extending the play-offs to six teams you add two more high-stakes games and increase the possibility of promotion for all. I like the idea.
Brian Dick (BirminghamLive)
Whatever the Premier League don’t like, count me in – and I suspect this proposal would make them uncomfortable.
Top heavy revenues and unfair distribution means the football pyramid is at the start of an existential crisis as what goes up, sure enough always comes down.
It feels like the same 17 Premier League clubs are getting further away from the rest of football and something needs to be done and this proposal won’t solve the problem but it might just help a smidgeon.
Imagine if the team that finishes eighth somehow runs the play-off table and ends up winning promotion.
Last season that would have been Millwall, the season before that it would have been Middlesbrough.
If only for one season those two clubs would have been given access to the deepest money trough in the sport, which would have made them more competitive going forward.
They’d have more of a chance of breaking up second-tier hegemony of the likes of Leicester City, Burnley, Leeds United and Southampton.
I’ve read some commentators say the likes of Millwall, who finished 34 points behind the champions last season, would dilute the quality of the Premier League – and to that I say ‘Your problem’.
Play-offs are not only a way of keeping the Championship interesting, they’re a way of keeping football interesting.
Millwall head coach Alex Neil Jordan Blackwell (LeicestershireLive)
Instinctively, the proposal feels like an attempt to fix something that isn’t broken. The Championship proves year on year that it is one of the most compelling and unpredictable leagues to follow. Nobody watches the Championship and feels it lacks drama.
But then again, there are not any obvious downsides. Increasing the play-off numbers will mean even more teams have something to fight for later in the season, and then there’ll be more high-pressure, high-stakes games to enjoy for the neutral come May.
It’s worked in the National League. From the outside, it hasn’t felt unjust that teams finishing seventh or eighth can get promoted.
The only thing I would say is that I’d be tempted for the semi-finals to be reduced to one-off matches, down from two legs, with the third and fourth-placed clubs to be at home in those ties. That gives a greater reward for those sides finishing higher up the table.
Pete Smith (StokeonTrentLive)
I used to feel irked on behalf of teams who finished runaway third in the old Division One but then miss out on promotion to a side that had done sometimes considerably less well. I remember Portsmouth in 1993 (12 points ahead of Swindon), Ipswich in 99 (nine ahead of Watford) and Wolves in 2002 (12 ahead of Birmingham).
I slowly got over that by it being such brilliant drama, my favourite time of the year. Stoke’s promotion in 2002 – an against-the-odds late comeback away at Cardiff – was heart-stoppingly thrilling.
But the biggest challenge that the EFL faces now is probably the opposite of my old complaint. Promotion has to be possible for more than just the three parachute-fuelled clubs who have just come down. Sunderland last season were a reminder that one-off matches can break that cycle, even if they finished 14 points behind Sheffield United.
The best solution would be to narrow the financial gap between the Premier League and Championship but if the former is not going to play ball on that, I’m all for exploring ways to try to make football more fun for the rest of us, keeping a foot in the door they are trying to slam to close the shop.
Leigh Curtis (DerbyshireLive)
If the EFL are seriously considering extending the number of playoff positions in the Championship, it’s something that surely would be given universal approval.
It’s worked brilliantly in the National League and has added to the entertainment, particularly towards the back end of the campaign.
How good would it be for somebody like Derby who could have a great end of season run and then be given a sniff of achieving something remarkable?
I can’t think of a compelling reason as to why fans of every Championship club would not welcome that opportunity to be in for a shout of promotion.
The Championship is perhaps the hardest league in Europe to get out of which is not helped by the Premier League parachute payments favouring those who have come down from the top flight.
An extra couple of playoff spots won’t redress the financial balance, but it will at least give a couple of clubs the chance to address the issue on the pitch. Hopefully, the EFL will give it the green light.
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