[Rumour] Premier League plans play-off for last Champions League place
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/14/premier-league-play-off-champions-leaguePremier 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
* David Conn
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 14 February 2010 22.15 GMT
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* Article history
Fulham
Under the play-off proposal Fulham – who finished seventh in 2009 – would have had a chance of Champions League football.
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.
* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010 不如學荷甲:( 搞咁多野有乜用 好廢的idea:o :icon101: Soccernet understands that some Premier League clubs have expressed
their fears about the adverse effect on English football should there be
a four-way play-off to decide who claims England's final Champions
League place.
Currently the teams finishing in the top four positions are handed entry
to Europe's elite competition, either in the main draw or at the
qualifying stage, but the Premier League is believed to be considering a
proposal to introduce a play-off for the fourth Champions League spot.
But Soccernet understands the idea has little support among the clubs,
who are concerned that it could cost English football one of its coveted
places in the Champions League.
It has been suggested that only the first three European spots be
decided on league position and the fourth place be determined by a
play-off. That could mean the teams finishing between fourth and seventh
play a mini-knockout competition.
One idea also mooted is that it could see the return of the failed "39th
game" proposal, meaning the play-offs would take place in another
country, such as the United States, Australia or the Far East, but any
suggestion to switch one of the most imporant games in a club's history
to a foreign ground would surely be met with opposition.
Such a move would be seen as a measure to inject more competition into
the league, but if the team finishing seventh qualified for and won the
Champions League place play-off, it could affect English football's
coefficient - and eventually it is possible England's quota could be cut
from four to three clubs.
In addition, the fixture programme is so congested already that
extending the season is not something most clubs would encourage,
especially in a World Cup or European Championship year.
The same four clubs - Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea
- have filled the top four positions in five of the past six seasons.
Only Everton, in 2005, have broken their stranglehold.
The proposal is thought to have been raised at a recent meeting of all
20 clubs and will be considered again when they next meet in April. If
the proposal were to be voted on at any stage in the future, a 14-6
majority could be enough to see it implemented.
A Premier League spokesman said: "We look at all sorts of ideas and
rarely make comment until we have decided something definitely.'' 咁好多強隊攞唔到頭三就擺爛 應該取消埋英冠附加賽添啦，明明攞到第三但都要同差自己十幾廿分嘅第4-6名爭一個位 :icon101: 咁搞法只會造就令莊家有利的比數
或者最尾幾輪變成big4預備組 vs 其他隊:icon101:
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