Ipswich Town Boss Weighs In On Six-Team Play-Off Debate

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has expressed his thoughts over the news that the Championship play-offs could be expanded to six teams.

The current format is well documented, with the Championship, League One and League Two all following the same format. The four-team ‘mini tournament’ has been a regular fixture in the calendar since 1987, with the winners earning the final promotion spot.

The National League follows a slightly different method though. With only one automatic promotion spot up for grabs, six teams then enter the play-offs. This sees those that finish between fourth and seventh enter a one-off ‘eliminator round’ before those that finished second and third join at the semi final stage.

Reports emerged earlier today that the EFL were in talks to introduce this format to the Championship, which could then expand to League One and Two.

“I Get It” – McKenna Offers Opinion On Proposal

Ipswich were one of the pre-season favourites for promotion after they suffered relegation from the Premier League last season. However, they are winless in their first four, having drawn three and lost one.

Speaking to the media ahead of tomorrow night’s clash against Sheffield United, McKenna was asked about the proposal:

“I’ve only seen that this afternoon.

“I get it, sort of extends it. But I feel like it’s really competitive anyway, if you look at the last few seasons in the Championship and the way teams can go up and down the league with a run and how tight it’s been at the bottom.

“I know the teams at the top for the last one or two seasons have hit a really high points total, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to continue forever.

“There’s no doubt, even coming back into it, you realise again watching the other teams and the other games, it’s one of the most competitive divisions in world football already.

“The gap between every team is small, every team has good players, you can get good players in the Championship whether you’ve got a big budget or a small budget. It’s one of the most competitive divisions anywhere.

“Extending that to give a few more teams something to fight for in the last couple of games, would probably bring more jeopardy to it at the end, so I can see the thinking behind it.”

Writer’s View

The idea of revamping the play-offs is nothing new but this is the first time that changes appear to be on the horizon in recent times. Some will say that it is a case of ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’, but the idea is clearly made with television broadcasting in mind. This would give them an extra two games a season with something on the line, whilst it could also see teams that struggle to make the top six earn a chance to get into the Premier League. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.