Quote: Phuzzy "Sorry, I haven't been on here since I posted so haven't answered the questions raised. I won't answer every one individually but I'll answer this one and hopefully it will make clear the points I'm making.
First of all, the 'every game counts' was not referring to the winners alone. The playoffs are still in existence so everyone is still playing for a playoff place. The difference being that it would remove the farce that we currently have where the league is nothing more than an extended pre-season to a cup competition! the ONLY way to stop this ridiculous situation is to have the championship won by the team finishing with the highest number of points. It works fine in Football and did for over a hundred years in our sport. I can't see anything but a devalueing of the season and, by default, the game by changing this in the manner we have. For me (and an increasing number of supporters) it's making our game a farce. If you are happy with the situation as it stands, then that's fine. That's your right. However, I find it interesting that the people who are happy with the situation are, in the main, the supporters of the team who have won it twice after finishing fifth. No coincidence I would wager. You'll never make 'every game count' in an absolute sense. You can, however, make the season more than an 8-month training run! I know which I prefer.'"
No it would make the play-offs an extended post season jolly. We would be playing a competition where the ‘champions’ have already been decided.
For the vast majority of our history as a game, the champions have been the team which is consistent enough to qualify for the play-offs, and good enough to beat the big sides, in the big games, when the pressure is on. I like, that i think that is the best way of deciding who is the champion side. I want to know who is the best, who can play to the highest level when it counts, im not really interested in who can consistantly win against the smaller sides.
Quote: Phuzzy "Why would anyone care about being named Premiers? Are you being serious? That's like saying why would anyone care about being named Challenge Cup winners? It's a title, a trophy, a big event final at a major sporting venue and an automatic entry into the WCC....not to mention a lucrative money spinner on both counts! I can't believe you actually put this forward, but hey! you're entitled to your opinion as I said earlier!'"
The champions have already been decided, the play-offs would be a damp squib, a sure fire set up for ‘after the lord mayors parade’. Play-offs are no longer the play-offs, they would be a short cup competition between a small amount of teams.. Why would people hold any value in it?
Quote: Phuzzy "I haven't swapped round minor premiers and premiers. I have given due credit to a competion that is currently regarded as second rate when it should be the most important! But let's, for the sake of argument say I have 'just swapped them around'. What is your argument against that?'"
We wouldn’t have a premier and minor premier, we would league champions and post-season cup winners. It would make the play-offs pointless Why should it be the most important? Why should we prize being consistent over being good? Why should we prize quantity over quality?
There would be no point to the play-offs. It would be the worst of both worlds. If you are that desperate for the league to decide the champions rather than the traditional way we have decided our champions then don’t bother with the play-offs at all.
Quote: Phuzzy "I would say that is the correct way they should be regarded and anything else is merely a falsehood. There is no way on earth that the playoffs should be regarded as the 'ultimate' achievement in the sport as it currently is. The situation is laughed at by fans of other sports (I visit many football strongholds in the course of my work and, without exception, they find the way our competition is run a joke) and, if I was being honest, I find it a joke too. Winning the title (i.e finishing first) is universally regarded as the toughest achievement in the sport. It should be recognised as such. In fact, I object to the term 'minor premiers'. As for awarding the plate to mark the achievement; well, the often used nickname 'The Hubcap' tells you all you need to know.'"
European football is in the minority of world wide sports to decide its champions that way. Far Far Far more sports throughout the world decide their champions in the way we do now, and have traditionally done.
Quote: Phuzzy "Someone else mentioned I was putting a lot of emphasis on the WCC. I wasn't. The emphasis was on recognising that the team finishing first should be champions. As champions you would play in the WCC. QED. I'm sick of hearing that the season no longer matters. Take a look at the season ticket thread on this very site for a taste of where we are as a sport.'"
The season does matter. Wigan just got it wrong this year, they peaked at the wrong time and were pretty poor for the last quarter of the year. It is a lazy analysis to say that Leeds didn’t try throughout the season and just came good at the end, whilst poor ol’ wigan went out in every game to win with a Corinthian spirit of fair play in their hearts, giving their all as sport should be. Its nonsense. Leeds train to peak at different points throughout the season. They have accepted that they cant be at 100% throughout the year. This means there are periods of the season when they play poorly, not deliberately, but because their fitness training is designed to factor in low periods because they need high periods. That’s why they win games in bunches, and lose games in bunches. Wigan didn’t do that, they tried to be 100% all the time, this meant that they had one long high period and one long low period. So when they met teams early in the season, on their low period, Wigan were playing at a higher level and blew them away, but at the end of the year when other teams where in their high period, like the last quarter of the year, Wigan lost 2 games v Leeds, against Wire and against St’s Wigan lost 5 of their last 12 games, they weren’t unlucky in one result going out to Leeds, they weren’t caught on the hop by a team who hadn’t tried throughout the season, they expended so much energy winning games early in the year that at the business end of the season they weren’t good enough to win the big games. I cant say I have too much sympathy for a team which won so many early season games, and lost so many of the late season games not being champions.
Quote: Phuzzy "Bury your head in the sand all you want. I'm a season ticket holder and have been for decades. If supportors such as myself are questioning the validity of our competition (and have been for some time) I think it's fair to say that something is badly wrong with it. I can honestly say I wish it was just me who was disillusioned. The truth is it isn't. Not by a long way.'"
Some people are questioning the validity of the competition because they dont understand what happened. Because Leeds set themselves up correctly to win the competition early season form meant they looked worse than they were, they were playing below themselves whilst others played above. Because Wigan didnt set themselves up correctly to win the competition their early season form made them look better than they were. Wigan peaked in late May/early june, they didnt win a big game after that.
