The EFL play-offs have changed very little in more than 30 years, and both historical records and our own preconceptions can be deceptive.
It’s that time of year again, when hearts shoot involuntarily into throats and football can feel as though it’s becoming too agonising to even watch. It’s been 35 years now since play-offs were introduced into the Football League, and it’s fair to say that they’ve been an almost complete success. When they were first introduced for the 1986/87 season, they were considered necessary; crowds had dropped and interest was hitting such a low level that it was starting to become an existential crisis.
They looked different then. Initially the fourth-bottom team in the division above played the three teams below the automatic promotion places, while the final was played over two legs and with a replay if necessary. In 1989, after just two seasons, the fourth-bottom team was spared the ordeal of having to take part in the competition and the final was moved to Wembley the following year, but since then there have been very few changes to the EFL play-offs.
A more radical version is to be found in the National League and its two regional subsidiaries, with six play-off places now available and – with only one automatic promotion place available – four teams playing what is starting to be called an ‘eliminator’ (it might be better described as a ‘preliminary quarter-final’) in order to play against the second and third-placed teams in the semi-finals.
In the EFL, the very fact that so little has changed does give us some degree of insight into a few statistical trends into how teams have performed in the past. One particular trend that has emerged in recent years is the claim that coming close to winning automatic promotion can have a damaging effect on play-off chances.
It’s superficially an understandable idea, that a team has been straining for a place in a higher division could be psychologically damaged…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…