The Dean

By tonight one of these two giants will have secured the right to replace Derby County at the bottom of....... er, no sorry, I mean the chance to rub shoulders with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres and Emmerson Boyce (some mistake surely? Ed.) next season.

Hull, the largest city never to have had a team in the top division, against a Bristol side who only managed to have a positive regular season goal difference by scoring 3 on the final day.......

The old formula for getting promotion is to average two points per game, as most teams promoted to the top division have managed over the years. That's 92 from 46 games, and that or thereabouts will get you an automatic promotion place.

This year West Brom managed.......... er..... 81. They are not even very good when the opposition is the likes of Colchester and Scunthorpe.

Never mind - they'll rise to the occasion next year.

I've always wished the promoted teams well - and I do so again - but any takers on a bet that says the three teams coming up will be the three teams going down in a year's time?

Help............

Inselaffen

have a soft spot for Bristol City having watched them a few times when I was a tax dodger in the city. But I think Hull would have a better chance of staying up.

would put my money on 2 of the promoted teams going down along with Fulham.

Inselaffen

Cracking goal from Ull !

lionheart

In my view only the 19th and 20th teams in the EPL should be automatically relegated. The 18th team should join the 3rd, 4th and 5th from the Championship in the play-offs. Too many poor teams from the lower division are getting promotion simply because they hit a good run of form in April-May. Similarly, look at Leicester Tigers who were a last minute try away from finishing 7th but ended up reaching the play-off final at the expense of Gloucester, who spent 20 out of 22 weeks in top spot. Just my two penny worth.

Inselaffen

good mixing of sports there!

It would be unfair to have a play-off because the Premier League team will have had a massive financial advantage meaning their team should be better.

its fair as it is now.

lionheart

I strongly disagree as any such advantage would be off-set by the fact that the EPL team would have only won a handful of games all season, whereas the Championship team would have been winning more than losing to reach the play-offs and would be in better spirits.
Surely you do not agree that a team who scrapes into sixth place in the Championship should get an EPL place at the expense of a team such as Reading who are relegated on goal difference. It simply makes it difficult for an EPL team to plan for the future.

Inselaffen

thats why they get the huge "Parachute payment" if they get relegated.

if they come 3rd from bottom they deserve to go down.

The Dean

I rest my case.

A spectaular goal (by a player who makes a habit of them) and some robust defending, and they are up.

I'd love to agree with Insel that Fulham will go down (I'm a fuggin' al-Fayed hater, you see) but even the current crap Fulham team would surely pick up more points than any of the three up-and-comers.

I wish Hull well, and WBA have been playing decent-to-watch football, but I fear the worst........

And by the way - how do they calculate the time to be added on for stoppages? There was a five-minute delay to treat Folan's injury - and the clock on the screen kept running - but only four minutes was added on. Pourquoi?

Inselaffen

fair result in the end though. the team which finished 3rd went up.

well they are supposed to add 30 seconds for every substitution as well.
at Old Trafford its usually how long fergie decides it will be

The Dean

I recommend a change - to a system of SIXTY minutes of ACTUAL play (independent timekeeper stopping clock for goal kicks, free kicks, etc).

Now let me digest the Chelsea news........