Which team will get the dreaded wooden spoon?

With three rounds to go Wellington Phoenix are on 26 points, Newcastle Jets 22, Adelaide United 21 and Central Coast Mariners 20.

Mathematically, Wellington could still finish last, but the chances of that happening are remote - especially given their goal difference (-7) is so much better than those of the clubs below them (Jets -18, Reds -20, Mariners -18).

The battle to avoid the wooden spoon has come down to a race between three.

Overview

For much of the season, Adelaide have looked like running last, but a recent revival saw them finally get off the bottom of the table when they came from 1-0 down to beat the Mariners 3-2 at Gosford last Saturday.

Adelaide have collected 10 points from their last five games. Central Coast and Newcastle have picked up one apiece.

So the Reds are clearly the team with momentum. Plus, they have two home games left while the Mariners and Jets both have just one and are on three-game losing streaks

Five-star Wellington Phoenix embarrass sorry Newcastle Jets

A depleted Wellington Phoenix have found some late-season goal-scoring form with a 5-0 A-League victory over the hapless Newcastle Jets at Westpac Stadium.

Newcastle Jets

Western Sydney Wanderers (H), Mariners (A) and Sydney FC (A).

The big worry for Newcastle is that they have stopped scoring goals - two in their last six games.

They are still creating chances but they don't have a clinical finisher.

Adelaide United

Perth Glory (H), Melbourne City (A), Wanderers (H).

The Reds are the lowest-scoring team in the competition this season, with 22 goals in 24 games, but they have come up with five goals in their last two.

Baba Diawara has been a great late-season signing for them and produced three of those goals.

Diawara double helps Adelaide overcome Mariners in five-goal thriller

Baba Diawara has inspired a 3-2 comeback win for Adelaide United over Central Coast, which lifts the Reds off the bottom of the A-League table for the first time since January.

Central Coast Mariners

Brisbane Roar (A), Newcastle (H), Melbourne Victory (A).

Even though their form obviously isn't great, Central Coast are hanging in there and not giving up in games and that could make the difference between them coming up empty in the last few rounds or grabbing a critically important win.

Prediction

Adelaide have a must-win AFC Champions League game against Jeju United in Korea between the rounds 26 and 27 of the A-League, which obviously makes things difficult for them.

But it's the Mariners v Jets clash in round 26 that is shaping up to be the wooden spoon decider.

The other two Jets-Mariners clashes this season were both in Newcastle and both finished as 1-1 draws.

Currently, the Mariners are in better form and they will be at home this time - they will surely throw all their eggs in that basket.

Don't be surprised to see them produce their most committed effort of the season and come away with a gritty win.

Newcastle to finish with the wooden spoon.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/03/29/which-team-will-get-dreaded-wooden-spoon

The Joy of Six: nearly Premier League teams

1) Millwall

Millwall have only ever had two seasons in the top flight of English football. Founded in 1885, it took them more than 100 years to reach the elite and they were understandably determined to make a strong first impression after going up as champions in 1988. They looked like First Division naturals at first, finishing 10th under John Docherty, thriving thanks to the goals of Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham. They were top after five games of the 1989-90 campaign, but second-season syndrome bit real bad and they straggled home in last place.

The south Londoners haven’t been back since, although they must have thought that they would be rubbing shoulders with the big boys again after a promising start to the 1995-96 season. They beat FA Cup holders Everton in the League Cup in October and automatic promotion was on the agenda by the time Mick McCarthy’s side visited Sunderland in early December. The league leaders travelled to Roker Park on the back of three straight defeats, however, and never recovered from a chastening 6-0 thrashing at the hands of the team one place below them in the table. While Peter Reid’s Sunderland went on to claim the title, Millwall imploded. McCarthy left to take the Republic of Ireland job and it all fell apart so dramatically that they went down after a 0-0 draw with Ipswich in their final game.

Premier League teams were flush with television cash, exciting foreign stars were turning up all over the place, everyone in England was buzzing after Euro 96 and Millwall were preparing for life in the third tier. Why does everyone else have all the fun? Still, another fine generation emerged around the turn of the century and Millwall came agonisingly close to earning back-to-back promotions when they finished fourth in Division One in 2002. The team featured Sean Dyche in defence, Steven Reid, Tim Cahill and Paul Ifil in midfield and Millwall’s current manager, Neil Harris, up front, but everyone remembers their play-off semi-final against Birmingham City for all the wrong reasons, Stern John’s late winner in the second leg leading to a riot on the streets surrounding the Den.

Two seasons later, they blew it again. When they thrashed West Ham 4-1 at the end of March, a fortnight before facing Sunderland in the FA Cup semi-final, a play-off spot was theirs for the taking. They were emerging as a fearsome proposition under Dennis Wise, their new player-manager, and had two of the league’s best players, Cahill and Ifil. But Cahill’s winner against Sunderland was the beginning of the end. Millwall won two of their final 10 league matches, finished 10th and were slightly out of their depth when they came up against Manchester United and a promising Portuguese teenager in the FA Cup final. Cahill and Ifil both left in the summer and they were relegated again in 2006.

Neil Harris was part of the Millwall team that finished fourth in Division One in 2002.
Neil Harris was part of the Millwall team that finished fourth in Division One in 2002. Photograph: Allsport, Uk/Allsport
2) Nottingham Forest

Forest, you might have heard, won a couple of European Cups back in the day. But their supporters haven’t had much to shout about since a deathly relegation from the Premier League in 1998-99, a season memorable mainly for Pierre van Hooijdonk going on strike and Ron Atkinson sitting in the wrong dugout before his first match against Arsenal, much to the amusement of future Dundee legend Fabian Caballero.

David Platt had a go as manager after Atkinson’s departure. But no. Struggling financially, Forest sent Platt on his way after two insipid seasons and promoted Paul Hart, whose reputation was growing thanks to his impressive work as the club’s academy director. After steadying the ship in his first year, Hart built a side capable of challenging for promotion in his second season as Forest’s money problems receded.

They were an exhilarating young team, brimming with youthful hope and ambition, and only Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth – who ran away with the title – outscored them in the 2002-03 season. With Michael Dawson in defence, David Prutton in midfield and Andy Reid on the left, Forest harboured hopes of going up automatically for a while. Even when Prutton left for Southampton in January, they continued to push and the arrival of Darren Huckerby on loan from Manchester City further enhanced an attack featuring the power of Marlon Harewood and the raw ability of David Johnson, a silky striker who spent his early years at Manchester United. Johnson scored 25 league goals, Harewood 20 and Huckerby managed five in nine. Yet finishing sixth earned Forest the awkwardness of a play-off semi-final against Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United, who won 5-4 on aggregate.

Forest couldn’t get over that bitter disappointment. Despite starting the following season well, the broken leg Johnson suffered in a 3-1 win over Warnock’s side in September proved a sign of things to come. Huckerby was busy leading Norwich City to promotion and Harewood joined West Ham in November. That brilliant attack was no more. The old magic had disappeared. Hart, briefly seen as one of the brightest young managers in England, lost his job in February 2004, Dawson and Reid were sold and Forest, once champions of Europe, began the 2005-06 season in League One.

Marlon Harewood left Nottingham Forest for West Ham United in 2003.
Marlon Harewood left Nottingham Forest for West Ham United in 2003. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
3) Ipswich Town

Few teams have endured as much misery in the play-offs as Ipswich. Having had their hearts broken in 1997, 1998 and 1999, the relief was considerable when they finally got their act together at the fourth time of asking and beat Barnsley 4-2 in the 2000 final. All of a sudden, they could barely do anything wrong. Back in the Premier League after five years away, they began the season as relegation favourites and ended it in the Uefa Cup after finishing fifth. Marcus Stewart was the new Kevin Phillips and George Burley was named manager of the year. The following season was a disaster, however, save for that ultimately inconsequential win over Internazionale, and they went down after a heavy defeat at Liverpool on the final day.

Burley paid for relegation with his job, albeit two months into the following season, and Ipswich replaced the Scot with the experienced Joe Royle, who had pipped the Tractor Boys to automatic promotion with Manchester City two years earlier. After settling in Suffolk, Royle warmed to the job and Ipswich finished fifth in his first full season, only to lose their play-off semi-final to West Ham. Ipswich won the first leg 1-0, but West Ham triumphed 2-0 back at Upton Park, surviving when Ian Westlake almost levelled the tie on aggregate when his volley hit the woodwork in stoppage time.

Ipswich continued to improve, however, and led the way for much of the following season. Jim Magilton and Tommy Miller were wily in midfield and Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi were a deadly combination up front. Yet inconsistency blighted Ipswich and they lost their nerve, allowing Sunderland and Wigan to finish first and second, respectively.

Ipswich finished third and they were a better team than Alan Pardew’s West Ham, who had crawled into the play-offs. Never underestimate the power of momentum, though. Despite fighting back from 2-0 down to draw the first leg in east London, Ipswich were soundly outplayed at home in the return game and lost 2-0. Bent, Miller and Kuqi were sold in the summer and Ipswich have produced little of note since then (it’s best not to bring up a semi-final defeat to Norwich two years ago).

Shefki Kuqi celebrates in trademark fashion after scoring for Ipswich Town against Crewe Alexandra in 2004.
Shefki Kuqi celebrates in trademark fashion after scoring for Ipswich Town against Crewe in 2004. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/PA
4) Barnsley

Barnsley had their moments during their one season in the Premier League. Mixed in with some gruesome hammerings were a famous win at Anfield, secured thanks to a goal from Ashley Ward, a comically bad-tempered free-for-all in which they had three men sent off when Liverpool won the return at Oakwell, and a gripping win over Manchester United in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Admittedly United were in the midst of an injury crisis that saw them forced to start Michael Clegg, Erik Nevland and Ben Thornley, but still.

Barnsley lost to Newcastle in the last eight, though, and went down largely because of their inability to defend. Wilson left for Sheffield Wednesday and although Barnsley had another run to the FA Cup quarters, succumbing to a magical individual goal from Tottenham’s David Ginola, their first season back in the second tier was one to forget. John Hendrie, a crowd favourite as a player, had replaced Wilson, but results were mixed and a change was needed. In came Dave Bassett, a manager who splashed on Eau de Proper Football Homme every morning, and Barnsley were excellent in the 1999-2000 season, finishing fourth.

But Ipswich were too strong in the final and the coming years for Barnsley would be dominated by relegation and financial problems. The highest they’ve been since then is 17th in the Championship.

Barnsley’s Oakwell stadium.
Barnsley’s Oakwell stadium. Photograph: Nigel Roddis/Getty Images
5) Bristol City

Since the introduction of the play-offs in 1987, only eight teams have responded to losing the First Division or Championship final by winning promotion a year later. Bouncing back from the ultimate disappointment isn’t easy. Faltering so close to the line leaves mental scars that can take a while to heal. Carrying that baggage into the following season can take a toll and some teams simply fade away into obscurity.

That was Bristol City’s fate after losing to Phil Brown’s Hull City at Wembley in 2008. For two years, City could barely put a foot wrong. Having finished second in League One in 2007, they were threatening to become the first team since Manchester City in 2000 to reach the Premier League through back-to-back promotions. A season or two of consolidation in the Championship tends to be a target for sides promoted from League One, but the Robins were aiming higher and with good reason.

Solid and effective under Gary Johnson, they showed no fear and finished fourth in the Championship, earning themselves a play-off semi-final against Neil Warnock’s Crystal Palace. After winning the first leg 2-1 at Selhurst Park, they rode their luck in the return and were fortunate that the tie went to extra time, bearing in mind Ben Watson, who had put Palace ahead with a clever header in the first half, struck the post with a late penalty instead of putting the visitors ahead on aggregate. City made the most of that reprieve by reaching the final thanks to excellent goals from Lee Trundle and Michael McIndoe.

Having made it as far as Wembley, however, they were allowed no further by Hull, who reached the top flight for the first time in their history thanks to a brilliant volley from Dean Windass. City could not get over that defeat. That was their chance. Five years later, they were finishing bottom of the Championship.

Dean Windass breaks Bristol City hearts at Wembley in 2008.
Dean Windass breaks Bristol City hearts at Wembley in 2008. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
6) Derby County

Leicester City shouldn’t have been the only Midlands team to reach the Premier League in 2014. The champions really should have been joined by Derby County, by common consensus the most gifted of the four teams who qualified for the play-offs that season. Steve McClaren’s young side played expansive, attractive football that won the admiring glances from neutrals and they were huge favourites to win the play-offs after thrashing Brighton & Hove Albion in their semi-final, handing out such heavy punishment that Óscar García immediately resigned as Brighton manager.

But Derby failed to perform in the final, even when Harry Redknapp’s Queens Park Rangers were reduced to 10 men, and a late slip from Richard Keogh allowed Bobby Zamora to plunder a dramatic winner for the west Londoners. Oh, Steve!

Not to worry, though. Mistakes happen and Derby were full of optimism at the start of the following season, spending ambitiously and mounting a strong push for automatic promotion. When they drew at Bournemouth in February, they were a point off the top. Yet cracks were starting to appear. There were signs that McClaren had an eye on the Newcastle United job, causing the team’s concentration to waver, and Derby fell off the pace after a series of poor results. Oh, Steve!

Nottingham Forest fans haven’t had much to cheer about in recent years, but they have had Derby, who even missed out on a play-off place on the final day of the season. They only needed a point against Reading at home. They lost 3-0. Oh, Steve!

McClaren did get that move to Newcastle in the summer, of course, but it didn’t last long and his most recent achievement, beyond returning to Derby with his tail between his legs in October, was confidently predicting Iceland’s imminent demise at Euro 2016 against England on live television, moments before Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s winner. Oh, Steve.

Richard Keogh is powerless to stop Bobby Zamora’s winning goal in the 2014 play-off final.
Richard Keogh is powerless to stop Bobby Zamora’s winning goal in the 2014 play-off final. Photograph: Ben Hoskins/Getty Images
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/mar/29/the-joy-of-six-nearly-premier-league-teams

Ground grading relief for Poole Town

The sixth-tier club were supported by ex-player Charlie Austin in a bid to raise £70,000 for ground improvements.

The Dolphins, in their first season in the division, are currently in the promotion play-off places.pooletown

"It's a massive relief. The tension over the last few months has been unreal," chairman Chris Reeves said.

Poole have been assured recent improvements to their Tatnam Recreation Ground are sufficient to maintain their status in National League South and satisfy the FA's Category B grading for Step 2 of the non-league pyramid.

But further work would be required should the Dorset club wish to make the step up to the National League if they are successful in the play-offs.

Category A requirements include a minimum capacity of 4,000, which must include a minimum of 500 covered seats and 250 of them in one stand.

Grounds must also have the ability to segregate home and away supporters.

"That step between the two leagues could conceivably be the biggest in the whole football pyramid," Reeves told BBC Radio Solent.

"But we've risen to every challenge so far, so why should the journey stop now? If we can make it better, then we'll just keep going for it."

http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/headlines/ground-grading-relief-for-poole-town.html

Cool story. Theyve been given an opportunity, (and guidelines) and they are rising to the occasion. The natural order of things. 

Joondalup should have been accepted and the other side relegated. That simple.

Maybe not be so salty

Seems promotion (chance) can help managers careers too. Perhaps Mooy will end up in East London.

Report: Huddersfield's David Wagner a contender to replace Slaven Bilic at West Ham United, get-out clause could aid Hammers' pursuit

Wagner has led unfancied Huddersfield Town to the play-offs this season, allegedly catching the eye of West Ham United.

Huddersfield Town manager David WagnerHuddersfield Town manager David Wagner

Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner is a possible contender to replace Slaven Bilic at West Ham United, The Telegraph reports.

The Hammers are said to be considering a new managerial appointment, with Bilic falling short of replicating last season's seventh-placed finish in the Premier League and prompting the club to withdraw their plans to renew his deal, which expires in 2018.




The name of Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez resurfaced in connection with the London Stadium post on Tuesday, although the Daily Mail later reported the Spaniard has no intention of leaving St James' Park.

And West Ham could now turn to Wagner instead, with the German-American's contract containing a set compensation clause which if triggered would allow him to move clubs.

In little under 18 months, Wagner has transformed Huddersfield from relegation battlers to promotion contenders on one of the Championship's smallest budgets.

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic before the gameWest Ham manager Slaven Bilic

The 45-year-old - a close friend of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, with whom he worked at Borussia Dortmund - is said to have had interest from a number of Bundesliga clubs in that time, with Wolfsburg strongly linked earlier in the campaign.

Would Wagner be a suitable replacement for Bilic at West Ham United?

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/03/29/report-huddersfields-david-wagner-a-contender-to-replace-slaven/

Many things Australia could take from this. 

107 places with more than 500k and they allow 1k seat stadium for d3 and 5k for d2.

Australia should be A-League 3k and A2 1k. Football is a second division sport attendance wise. 

This is how I would like to see AAFCs work evolve (w/ FFA)

Establish a d2, then a d3 etc. 

It is FFAs responsibility t give the new league 2nd div sanctioning

#vision

SoccerAmerica - USL: A new Division III league in works for 2019 03/30/2017

The United Soccer Leagues, which currently operates the Division II USL and amateur PDL, has annoubced plans to launch a new pro Division III league in 2019.

The USL will target communities ranging in population from 150,000 to one million. The move comes after the USL, a former Division III league, was provisionally approved to have Division II status along with the NASL.

“We are in a unique position to lead the sport’s next phase of growth with a proven and exciting competition model, the same which has made the USL the top Division II league in North America,” said CEO Alec Papadakis in a statement. “With elite competition and strong ownership groups providing unrivaled fan experiences, the USL will continue shaping the future of professional soccer through a third-division league, cultivating and bonding local supporters through the ‘beautiful game’ for generations to come.”

For 14 years (1996-2009), the USL operated leagues at Division II (USL Select, then A-League and USL First Division) and Division III (USL Professional, then USL D-3 Pro, USL Pro Soccer and USL Second Division) with various names.

Three teams from the last season of its 2009 Division III league -- Richmond, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg -- still survive while only two teams from the 2009 Division II league -- Charleston and Rochester -- still play in the USL. (Three 2009 USL Division II teams play in MLS and one plays in the NASL.)

https://www.socceramerica.com/article/72857/usl-a-new-division-iii-league-in-works-for-2019.html

Which fans have suffered the most relegation heartache, league stagnation & cup final losses?


Which fans have suffered the most relegation heartache, cup final losses and league stagnation over the last 50 years?

Coventry City face League One rivals Oxford United in the Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley, live on Sky Sports this Sunday, but Sky Blues fans have had a rough ride since the millennium.

Coventry have not finished in the top six of any league for 47 years
Coventry have not finished in the top six of any league for 47 years

Incredibly, Coventry have not finished in the top six of any league for 47 years and suffered relegation twice since 2000/01 after 34 seasons in the top flight.

Coventry vs Oxford Utd

April 2, 2017, 2:00pm

Live on Sky Sports 3 HD
But have Coventry fans suffered the most? Sky Sports looked at every club's season-ending league positions over the last 50 years to find out...

RELEGATIONS

Blackpool fans may well have suffered the most, having experienced relegation nine times over the last half a century - more than any other club.

The Seasiders slipped from the old Division One in 1966/67, plummeting to the foot of Division Four in the early '80s, rising to the Premier League in 2010/11 and falling to their current fifth-place standing in League Two.

Blackpool have been relegated on nine occasions since 1966/67

However, Southend fans have experienced a roller-coaster period of promotion elation and relegation heartache, hopping leagues on 17 occasions during the period - that's pain or glory every three years on average.

ROOTED

In terms of being rooted in the bottom league, Rochdale fans have endured 40 years in England's fourth tier since 1966 - although the Dale have now spent three successive seasons in League One and are challenging for promotion to the Championship this term.

Rochdale won promotion to League One in 2013/14

Outside of the top flight, the longest runs of current consecutive seasons in a league are held by Oldham in League One and Ipswich in the Championship, currently being in their 20th and 15th consecutive seasons in the respective leagues.

CUP PAIN

But when it comes to all-time cup final agony, Everton have suffered more than any other club. Since 1872, the Toffees have lost eight FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals.

Everton have lost eight FA Cup finals and won five

So Coventry fans are not alone with their suffering but the Sky Blues will be looking to claim their second major cup in the club's history when they face Oxford on Sunday, having won the FA Cup in 1987.

Meanwhile, Oxford will also be challenging for their second trophy after winning the League Cup in 1986 and will want to make amends for losing 3-2 to Barnsley in the Football League trophy final last term.

Watch Coventry v Oxford in the Checkatrade Trophy final live on Sky Sports 3 from 2pm on Sunday

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11096/10818126/which-fans-have-suffered-the-most-relegation-heartache-league-stagnation-cup-final-losses

UEFA Nations League

UEFA are also determined to make changes to competitions, with their ideas focused on improving international friendlies, leading to the UEFA Nations League.

In September 2018, a tournament will begin which is aimed at bringing more excitement and intensity to European football.

"National federations and coaches have revealed that international friendlies are not providing the right sporting competition," UEFA reasoned.

The 55 European nations will be divided into four leagues based on their rankings and there will be promotion and relegation factored in.
http://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2017/04/01/58df8f9446163f87148b4657.html

Crazy! International Pro/Rel. This is awesome.

Millers first side relegated – ups, downs and the race for Europe

Leicester were unable to defend their Premier League title – but are still in the Champions League
BBC Sport outlines the battles for promotion and relegation – and all the European qualifiers – in England and Scotland.

RECENT PROMOTIONS AND RELEGATIONS

PREMIER LEAGUE

The top three teams will qualify for the group stage of next season’s Champions League, with the fourth-placed team entering in the play-off round.

If Leicester City win the Champions League, or Manchester United win the Europa League but finish outside the top four, they will enter next season’s Champions League. If both those sides win their European competitions, the fourth-placed side will be moved to the Europa League.

The fifth-placed team will enter the Europa League at the group stage, as will the FA Cup winners.

Manchester United were the first team to book their place in Europe
Manchester United are already assured of at least a Europa League place after winning the EFL Cup. If they finish in the top four, their place in the Europa League third qualifying round will pass to the sixth-placed team.

The four FA Cup semi-finalists – Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham – are all in contention for Champions League places. If the FA Cup winners and runners-up, and Manchester United, all qualify for Europe by virtue of their league position, the sixth and seventh-placed Premier League sides will also enter the Europa League.

There are no longer any Fair Play places allocated to the Europa League.

The bottom three teams will be relegated to the Championship.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Rotherham were the first club in England or Scotland to be relegated
The top two teams will be promoted to the Premier League, with the next four teams entering the play-offs.

The bottom three teams will be relegated to League One. Relegation was confirmed for Rotherham United‘s relegation was confirmed when they lost 1-0 to Fulham on 1 April.

LEAGUE ONE

The top two teams will be promoted to the Championship, with the next four teams entering the play-offs. Leaders Sheffield United are guaranteed at least a play-off place.

The bottom four teams will be relegated to League Two – with Coventry looking likely to fill one of those positions.

LEAGUE TWO

The top three teams will be promoted to League One, with the next four teams entering the play-offs. Leaders Doncaster, guaranteed at least a play-off place, will be promoted if they beat Mansfield on Saturday, 8 April, or if other results go their way.

The bottom two teams will be relegated to the National League.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The National League champions will be promoted to League Two, with the next four teams entering the play-offs.

The bottom four teams will be relegated, and replaced by the champions and play-off winners of the National League North and South divisions.

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP

The Premiership will split in half after the 33rd round of games on 14-16 April, with the top six and the bottom six playing the other teams in their ‘half’ for a fourth and final time.

Celtic will be crowned as champions if they beat Hearts on Sunday. In any event, Celtic cannot finish below second place and so are guaranteed at least a Europa League place. Aberdeen and Rangers are also certain of finishing in the top six.

The second and third-placed sides will qualify for the Europa League along with the Scottish Cup winners, but there are no longer any Fair Play places allocated to the Europa League.

The bottom side will be relegated to the Scottish Championship, while the 11th-placed side will face the winners of the Championship play-offs over two legs, with the losers condemned to a place in the second tier next season.

SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP

The champions will be promoted to the Premiership.

The third and fourth-placed teams will meet in the first round of the play-offs, with the winners playing the division’s second-placed team. Whoever emerges victorious from that two-legged encounter will face the second bottom side in the Premiership – again on a home and away basis – with a spot in the top flight the prize.

Hibernian are guaranteed at least a play-off place.

The bottom club will be relegated to League One. The ninth-placed team will enter a play-off with three League One sides.

SCOTTISH LEAGUE ONE

The champions will be promoted to the Championship, while teams finishing second, third and fourth will enter a play-off with the ninth-placed Championship team. Livingston are guaranteed at least a play-off place.

The bottom club will be relegated to League Two. The ninth-placed team will enter a play-off with three League Two sides.

SCOTTISH LEAGUE TWO

The champions will be promoted to League One, while teams finishing second, third and fourth will enter a play-off with the ninth-placed League One team.

The team finishing bottom will enter a play-off against a candidate club (the winner of a play-off between the Highland and Lowland League champions, or another eligible club nominated by the Scottish Football Association) for the final place in next season’s League Two.

http://www.sportal.co.in/football/millers-first-side-relegated-ups-downs-and-the-race-for-europe/

Its something that needs to happen here. The intrigue and interest that it provides to a league is huge. 

We would be the only code in the country with interest at the top AND bottom of the league table

Not only that but in lower leagues and indeed even lower leagues around the country. 

What is this thread

The one stop shop for the glory of pro rel in this and other countries and why being special is really not good enough anymore. 

Tony Smith: Time to split Super Rugby into a two tier competition


Mark Metcalfe/ Getty Images

Matt Todd and the Crusaders were on top in Sydney as they dispatched the Waratahs 41-22.

OPINION: It's time to split the Super Rugby competition into two divisions and introduce automatic promotion-relegation.

The format of the southern hemisphere's premier rugby competition is set to be changed again with fighting talk of cutting two Australian franchises and a South African club.

But is that really going far enough? Will it demonstrably raise the standard?


Dianne Manson/ Getty Images

Games like the opening round clash between the Highlanders and Chiefs are the most eagerly anticipated in Super Rugby.

It would help. Clearly, Australia struggles to find enough players to fill five teams - hence so many journeyman Kiwis getting gigs across the Tasman.



South Africa still has the grassroots numbers, but suffers from the inexorable exodus of players to richer European and Japanese clubs. Quality has plummeted.

Sanzaar has plenty of political hurdles to leap before lowering the executioner's axe. Does a turkey ever vote for Christmas? No club is likely to willingly accede to oblivion, let alone those with wealthy backers.

A better option might be to follow the model adopted for the National Provincial Championships, which were split into two divisions - Premiership and Championship - each comprised of seven teams.


Mark Kolbe/ Getty Images

Caught in the carnage - the Australian Super Rugby teams will likely be the big losers from proposed cuts to the competition.

The bottom team in the Premiership is replaced by the Championship winners each season.

A Super Rugby Premiership could comprise nine teams with a Championship division featuring the remaining nine franchises.

Both grades could feature a double round-robin, meaning home and away games. That would give the teams 16 games in both grades, followed by a simple semifinals format. It's a similar workload to their traditional toil.

There has long been talk of realigning in two distinct regional conferences - New Zealand-Australia and a South African-Argentina equivalent. But if two tiers are to be established, quality rather than geography should be the determining factor.

Imagine a Premiership showcasing the five Kiwi teams, the Lions and Stormers from South Africa, the Waratahs from Australia and either the Reds or Brumbies or Argentina's Jaguares?

The South Africans might squawk about six or seven matches in New Zealand and Australia, but, ultimately, their rugby would be better for the exposure.

It would inevitably raise the standard in a competition sadly lacking in meaningful matches, week to week.

New Zealand rugby fans and television programmers loved the home and away format of a few years' back - even if team physios and players' agents didn't.

How many Kiwis watch games involving non-New Zealand teams? Come on, be honest.

A split division concept would also give Super Rugby's also-rans something to aim for - a title to call their own and the prospect of promotion to the big-time.

Of the current 18 franchises, nine have never won a title in Super Rugby's 21-year existence - and most of those never will.

Promotion-relegation adds a frisson to sport - it's currently squeaky-bum time around the football world where there's almost as much interest on who's destined for the dreaded drop as there is on the title race.

Funding, as always, could be the stumbling block for a split comp.

Crowds - already on the decline - could plummet further in the second tier without the star appeal of visiting All Blacks and the Championship clubs couldn't expect as big a slice of the Sanzaar pie, although there could be parachute payments for clubs relegated from the top tier.

But anything would be better than the current moribund model or any token tinkering under the old bomb's bonnet.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/91143366/tony-smith-time-to-split-super-rugby-into-a-two-tier-competition

WHAT’S STILL POSSIBLE: PREMIER LEAGUE, 2 APR 2017

Posted on April 2, 2017   by Experimental 3-6-1

With Rotherham’s relegation confirmed yesterday and the season fast running out of matches, I thought it was worth dusting off another post from last year which looked at what was still mathematically possible (no matter how unlikely) in each division.

A quick explanation

I’ve built a tool which narrows down how far each club can move based on the maximum number of points everyone has available and then checks for individual matches that limit how far each club can actually move before recalculating the table. I’ve then plugged the results into my existing permutations graphics to show each club’s range of movement.

If you’re not convinced by anything then there’s a handy tool that you can use to manually check what’s possible yourself.

So it’s still mathematically possible (although obviously not very likely) for Everton to win the title. Both they and Arsenal can actually still either win the title or be relegated, which is slightly insane.

In fact, everyone beneath the Toffees in the table currently can still technically finish in last place, even at this relatively late stage of the season.

Leaders Chelsea and second-placed Tottenham are the only two clubs assured of a top half finish as it stands, but there remain possible scenarios in which both miss out on European football next season.

Only six teams are guaranteed to finish outside the Champions League places and even bottom side Sunderland could still end up in the top half of the table with the right combination of results.
https://experimental361.com/2017/04/02/whats-still-possible-premier-league-2-apr-2017/

WHAT’S STILL POSSIBLE: CHAMPIONSHIP, 2 APR 2017

Posted on April 2, 2017   by Experimental 3-6-1

With Rotherham’s relegation confirmed yesterday and the season fast running out of matches, I thought it was worth dusting off another post from last year which looked at what was still mathematically possible (no matter how unlikely) in each division.

A quick explanation

I’ve built a tool which narrows down how far each club can move based on the maximum number of points everyone has available and then checks for individual matches that limit how far each club can actually move before recalculating the table. I’ve then plugged the results into my existing permutations graphics to show each club’s range of movement.

If you’re not convinced by anything then there’s a handy tool that you can use to manually check what’s possible yourself.

So anyone down to 7th-placed Sheffield Wednesday can technically still win the title and it’s also possible for either of Newcastle and Brighton (but not both) to finish outside the play-offs altogether.

While Preston are one of nine clubs that can still rise as high as third, it’s also mathematically possible for them to be relegated. In fact half of the clubs in the division can still be either promoted or relegated with the right combination of results.

Burton secured a massive win in the fight against relegation yesterday but in theory they can still scrape into the play-offs.

While Wigan are in trouble after another defeat – and are now the only club who can be overtaken by Rotherham – they could still finish this season in the top half of the table with 15 of the 22 clubs above them not mathematically safe from the drop.

https://experimental361.com/2017/04/02/whats-still-possible-championship-2-apr-2017/

WHAT’S STILL POSSIBLE: LEAGUE 1, 2 APR 2017

Posted on April 2, 2017   by Experimental 3-6-1

With Rotherham’s relegation confirmed yesterday and the season fast running out of matches, I thought it was worth dusting off another post from last year which looked at what was still mathematically possible (no matter how unlikely) in each division.

A quick explanation

I’ve built a tool which narrows down how far each club can move based on the maximum number of points everyone has available and then checks for individual matches that limit how far each club can actually move before recalculating the table. I’ve then plugged the results into my existing permutations graphics to show each club’s range of movement.

If you’re not convinced by anything then there’s a handy tool that you can use to manually check what’s possible yourself.

You’ll notice that this one looks a bit uneven due to clubs having different numbers of matches remaining.

Nine of the current top 10 are mathematically still in with a shot at automatic promotion – the exception is Bristol Rovers, who have played a game extra and can no longer earn enough points.

Only Sheffield United are guaranteed at least a play-off place as it stands, with even 18th-placed Port Vale still technically capable of joining them in the final top six thanks to their extra game in hand.

While Oxford are technically still able to secure a second successive automatic promotion, they’re also not guaranteed to avoid relegation back to League 2. They’re actually one of eight sides that can still leave the division in either direction, with Rochdale also capable of either a top two or a bottom four finish.

While Coventry and Chesterfield are deep in relegation trouble, there are seven other clubs who can technically finish the season at the foot of the table.
https://experimental361.com/2017/04/02/whats-still-possible-league-1-2-apr-2017/

WHAT’S STILL POSSIBLE: LEAGUE 2, 2 APR 2017

UEFA president Ceferin tells clubs Super League is a no go

Ceferin warned the continent's biggest leagues that Europe's football governing body would never give in to "blackmail" as he promised to re-design the game on the continent over the next five years.

Slovenian Ceferin also promised 1 million euro ($1.4 million) to each of UEFA's 55 member associations as a "solidarity payment" from UEFA's revenue.

Ceferin was elected last September, shortly after UEFA had announced changes to the flagship UEFA Champions League competition, which gave more slots to clubs from the bigger leagues and cut the number allocated to the smaller ones.

The changes were implemented after the richest clubs had discussed forming a breakaway Super League.

European Super League 'being discussed by top clubs'

Forming a European Super League is being discussed by leading clubs across the continent, according to Relevent Sports chairman Charlie Stillitano.

European football faces a huge disparity between the top leagues such as England's Premier League and Germany's Bundesliga and the smallest, which are plagued by poor revenues, falling attendances and financial difficulties.

Ceferin said UEFA would sit down with the clubs, leagues and players to develop a "strategic vision" for European soccer.

"This five-year plan will not be forced on you, it will not come out of the blue, as may have happened in the past," Ceferin told the UEFA Congress.

"It will not be drafted by some anonymous bureaucrat and his paper-pushers hidden away on the shores of Lake Geneva."

Ceferin said that Switzerland-based UEFA should not be afraid of the stakeholders but then issued stark warnings to the clubs and leagues.

"To some clubs I should say...there will be no closed league. It's as simple as that. That is not in line with our values and ideas," he said.

"To some leagues, I will say: we will never give in to the blackmail of those who think they can manipulate small leagues...because they think they are all powerful because of the astronomical values they generate.

"We will work together to rectify the imbalances as much as possible.

"Sharing must not be considered a dirty word."

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/04/05/uefa-president-ceferin-tells-clubs-super-league-no-go

Ayyeeeee great news. Fucking hate these elitists and their attempts to destroy football for profit. 

Rocco’s Ramblings: Cosmos’ New Owner Speaks Out

images
Rocco Commisso, the Cosmos new majority owner, at the team's media day. Photographs by New York Cosmos
By JACK BELL

Rocco Commisso is to be lauded for stepping in to save the New York Cosmos and probably the North American Soccer League, at least for another year.

But the native of Italy, the soccer star at Columbia (where the soccer stadium is named for him) and the media mogul through his company Mediacom seems to have let the euphoria get the best of him in comments leading up to the Cosmos’ home opener at MCU Park in Brooklyn last Saturday.

His ramblings may encourage fans, but he’s raised eyebrows and left some people shaking their heads. Here we go again.

It is fair to say that his recent comments are at best ill-advised. It is these delusions of candor — that the Cosmos, not Minnesota United should be in Major League Soccer this year after winning a second straight title in the NASL; that the United States is a failed soccer country because it has not won the World Cup; that if he wants to watch soccer he will tune into European games — are needlessly provocative and are about to jump off the wall.

In an area with three professional soccer teams, two buttoned down MLS outfits and the Cosmos, Commisso’s comments barely caused a small ripple. If making waves was the intention it mostly flopped. But …

Just last week Commisso spoke with Charlie Stillitano on “The Football Show” on SiriusXM satellite radio using words that sounded like they were lifted from a movie script. He said:

“If anyone tries to screw with my team, my reputation, my players, what I’m trying to accomplish, I’m gonna hit back. And I hope the people that run American soccer understand that.”

Commisso recently purchased a majority stake in a club that plays in the second tier of the game in the U.S. He knew, or should have known what he was buying — an iconic team with a brand more popular outside the U.S. than in the U.S. playing in a league shrunken to eight teams. His recent comment to Brian Straus of SI.com seemed to only reinforce the notion that people labeled Eurosnobs will never accept the game in America:

“I haven’t been to an MLS or NASL game at all. Largely because I’m one of those that understands who the best players in the world are, who the best leagues in the world are. When I want to watch a real soccer game, I wouldn’t go to watch New York City [FC]. I’ll watch Juventus. I’ll watch the Italian league. I’ll watch the Spanish league.”

And when it comes to the pie-in-the sky notion of promotion/relegation in North America, Commisso picked up the banner that was waved by Bill Peterson, the former commissioner of the NASL, who reveled in talking about the topic and who supported a possible antitrust lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, a gambit that fell by the wayside last year.

“Did anyone see the Minnesota game where they lost [6-1]?This is exactly what I’m talking about. Because they paid $100 million with another $150 million for the stadium, Minnesota got to the MLS, right? Well, the Cosmos won the championship. In other countries, all over Europe, South America, so on, the Cosmos should be moving up to the MLS, not Minneapolis. I think Minneapolis was the eighth-ranked team in the NASL last year, out of 12. We were No. 1.”

He also has cracked open the history books to point out that the U.S. advanced to the semifinals of the first World Cup, in 1930, but has had a mediocre record since, save for an appearance in the quarterfinals in 2002. What seems to be lost on Commisso is that only eight countries (Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay) have won World Cups. For the U.S., it’s no crime. We’ve sucked. We don’t anymore. Now we’re like everyone else. Trying to win a World Cup.

“Everybody’s bragging about what a great job we’re all doing with American soccer. No, we’re not doing a great job.



“Here we are, 80 years later, and we still haven’t had a team, a professional team, a professional, national team that could go out and say ‘We’re the top 10, the top five.’ I mean, what kind of crap is that? To date, we have not had a national team that I’m proud of.”

Finally, he addressed the Holy Grail — a stadium for the Cosmos.

“I’m not asking for money right now; I’m not even asking for a stadium. But there’s got to be a discussion of what the future of soccer is in the center of the world.

“I’m from the Bronx. My kids grew up in New Jersey. My team is in Brooklyn. I’m local, local, local. That’s the message I want to send out.”

Hey, at least Commisso isn’t sending out Twitter blasts in the wee hours of the morning — at least not yet.

http://www.empireofsoccer.com/roccos-ramblings-cosmos-new-owner-speaks-out-59845/

💚💙💛

FAS candidates should recognise the stick-and-carrot system will sustain public interest, offer pathway for lesser clubs and demonstrate the bigwigs don’t live in an S.League bubble, argues Neil Humphreys…

by

Neil Humphreys

Published

1 hour ago

Singapore and Australia's football competitions have at least one thing in common – the latter stages of their domestic campaigns can offer less entertainment than a dull draw at Old Trafford.

Right now, the A-League is a dead rubber disguised as sporting competition. Sydney FC stand 17 points clear of second-placed Melbourne Victory.

The rest of the teams are standing around like distant relatives at a wedding waiting for the earliest opportunity to call a taxi home

The Premier Plate is a done deal, the playoff places are largely secure and the rest of the teams are standing around like distant relatives at a wedding waiting for the earliest opportunity to call a taxi home.

For those Australians who retain an irrational hatred of the round-ball game, the irrelevance of so many fixtures remains a trusty stick with which to beat the A-League.

Unlike Aussie Rules football, the country’s most popular and profitable football code, there is no draft system, where the top picks in the post-season are determined by league places.

And unlike the English Premier League, there is no promotion or relegation system.

Sydney FC have already secured the Premiers Plate

For the haters, it’s confirmation of the A-League’s half-baked status and the S.League has long endured similar criticism.

With no threat of relegation, there is no sense of peril and no real point in many of the final fixtures involving clubs beyond the top four.

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Urgent leadership needed to keep S.League on life support

So candidates for the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) elections would do well to remove that old stick and replace it with the carrot of promotion and relegation.

Such a change would be radical and expensive, but the benefits are far-reaching.

In the interminable build-up to the April 29th elections, one of the most sustained grievances has been the perceived lack of interest in lower-tier football, such as the National Football League (NFL).

If an NFL club wants to guarantee the presence of an FAS blazer at a fixture, then it must invariably come up with a minister’s hand to shake or present an outsized cheque to stand behind.

Incorporating the NFL into a tiered system, with the top club in a first division earning promotion to the S.League, would immediately change the perception that there isn’t administrative or financial interest in the amateur game.

Balestier's chairman has looked into the relegation model

Balestier Khalsa chairman S Thavaneson, who is standing as one of four vice-presidents in the elections, has already hinted at a promotion-relegation model, eventually leading to 10 local teams and two foreign clubs in the top tier.

Any initiative that increases local participation in the S.League, among both footballers and fans, should be explored.

Of course, this is hardly an epiphany. Seven years ago, almost to the day, the FAS announced a grand plan to introduce a promotion and relegation component to the S.League in 2011. 

Like most of FAS’ grand plans, it never came to pass.

By 2012, the promotion-relegation promise had already been broken with the FAS claiming that a shrinking talent pool made the plan unworkable.

The claim was not only dubious, but contradictory. If an alleged lack of talent made promotion from the NFL unrealistic, how was the absence of relegation expected to improve talent in the bottom half of the S.League?

There’s no jeopardy, no incentive and no point in playing, watching or financially endorsing so many meaningless fixtures.

And the idea that NFL clubs are ill-equipped for the S.League, both economically and administratively, is writing off a horse in the starting gate, crushing its motivation before it’s had a chance to run.

Such a defeatist attitude also leads to accusations of self-interest. If those within the established S.League hierarchy insist NFL clubs are incapable of making the switch from amateur to professional, via promotion, then the door stays closed.

Amateur clubs miss out on greater subsidies and remain poor country cousins. The initial scepticism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Then there is the omnipresent threat of throwing matches to consider.

In 2009, the Melbourne Football Club was accused of “tanking”, i.e. deliberately losing matches near the end of the season, in a bid to receive a priority draft pick in the post-season draft.

In the AFL, similar to other competitions like America’s NBA and NFL, the worst clubs get the best draft picks each year to help them improve and try to avoid wealthier clubs dominating the silverware.

The S.League doesn’t have a draft pick system, but what it does have is an unwanted global reputation for match-fixing.

The relevant authorities have made tremendous strides in addressing the regional game’s most repugnant stain, but when there are too many games with nothing to play for, the temptation remains.

In a cash-strapped profession, sporting pride doesn’t pay the bills.

A relegation battle doesn’t entirely remove the risk of corruption, but it does at least provide an incentive to excel.

But the biggest strength of promotion and relegation also neatly addresses the S.League’s biggest weakness – an inherent lack of inclusivity.

Albirex Niigata, Brunei DPMM and the Young Lions are clubs without a local or geographical identity. The S.League essentially relies on six clubs to improve community ties (and even the Warriors’ fanbase is tough to pin down).

Promotion and relegation could conceivably unite different leagues, communities and even football cultures in Singapore.

The tribalism so often missing in the S.League can still be found among long-established rivalries at grassroots levels.

It’s not a coincidence that a similar situation exists around Melbourne, where amateur clubs predate the birth of the A-League.

Moreover, the annual David and Goliath storylines might sustain a media narrative beyond a title race that typically concerns only the clubs involved (and interests almost no one if those clubs are foreign.)

The model would undoubtedly be a costly experiment with no guarantee of success, but one FAS candidates must seriously consider.

If a promotion and relegation system ensures the S.League’s survival and allows the local game to save a little face, it’ll be worth every cent.

Photos: Weixiang Lim/FourFourTwo (except Sydney FC)

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/sg/features/could-relegation-and-promotion-be-key-sleagues-survival

"For the haters, it’s confirmation of the A-League’s half-baked status and the S.League has long endured similar criticism."

Ouch

They are both sub standard half assed leagues. 

@selectfew
What?????????????????????
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