Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelBlue
...and this is why I feel it's maybe a bit unfair on the team that played well all year to come 3rd on merit only to perhaps not go through.
( And I'm not saying that because it's Leeds. I've been saying it for years regardless of whoever it is )
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They know the rules at the outset of the season. 1 and 2 go up automatically. 3 - 6 contest the play offs at the end. The reason that 3rd place doesn’t go up automatically is because they aren’t quite good enough to finish 1st or 2nd.
And I know all about finishing 3rd. In 2012-13, my Watford team played great football, but finished 3rd because we were inconsistent in the opening months of the season, and poor during the March of that year. (We lost the final to Crystal Palace, but the semi final gave us the most memorable moment in the club’s history).
In 2005-06 we also finished 3rd, which was a surprise, but didn't go up automatically because we dropped 7 points to the top 2 (and also because Reading were ultra consistent that season). We did however, win the play-offs mainly because we embraced their knock-out competition nature. We relished them and approached games really positively.