<blockquote>
<div id="attachment_825" style="width: 160px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/05/championship-playoff-final-preview-sheffield-united-v-burnley-7031103300.jpg"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-825" loading="lazy" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-825" src="/files/2010/05/championship-playoff-final-preview-sheffield-united-v-burnley-7031103300-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"></figure></div></a>Welcome To Wembley</div>
Excuse the Stephen Colbert reference above (I wish he would return to UK TV screens!). Saturday signals a great day for football with the Champions League final taking place, but before that there is a game that is worth even more money to the victor. The Championship playoff final takes place at Wembley in a traditional 3pm kick off, and unlike previous seasons which has seen each football league play off final played one day after the other (usually on what is&nbsp; a bank holiday weekend for the UK – next weekend), the Championship final is up first and has the whole weekend to itself. Blackpool, a team with an average attendance of just over 8,000 this season, find themselves in dream land and have credited Ian Holloway with much of the credit for helping them get a chance at entering the Premiership. Holloway himself has <a href="http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6166514,00.html">deflected praise back at the tangerine’s </a>and the quotable manager has received much backing from many neutrals in England, although many would love to see Blackpool in the top flight for a various number of reasons. The famous seaside resort has a big opportunity to return to the top flight after a number of years of exile, and a club that is perhaps most recognisable for having Sir Stanley Matthews on their books has a chance to write more history into the books. Anyone with a lack of knowledge of Blackpool’s impact on the English game should look up the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxWJXR-AJ8o">1953 F.A Cup final</a>, which is one of the greatest finals in history and often labelled as the ‘Matthews final’ after the above mentioned Stanley Matthews performance, despite the fact Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick in the game (typical).
Blackpool’s opponent is the Welsh outfit of Cardiff, who almost need to win this game if they are to balance the books at the Welsh capital. Due to Blackpool’s prestige in the English game and their loveable manager, the fact that this is and England V Wales tie has been almost amplified in England, which is just one of the many talking points of this particular final. Whether Wales is united remains up for debate however, I remember watching the final episode of the BBC’s football league show this season, in which one Swansea fan (apparently) e-mailed in wishing Cardiff all the luck in the world as they were representing the nation of Wales. That’s probably a load of rubbish and I doubt any Swansea fan would like to see Cardiff doing better than their team who narrowly missed out on the playoffs themselves. <a href="http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11704_6164599,00.html">Dave Jones has hailed his team’s spirit</a> ahead of the tie, but will be <a href="http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11704_6152330,00.html">sweating on the fitness of star player Peter Wittingham</a>, who has bagged a number of vital goals for the Bluebirds this term. Cardiff have had a number of troubles this season, but promotion the top flight of the English Premier League would soften many of the problems off the field this seasons, and the side will probably go in as favourites.
The semi-finals were exciting, full of action, goals and attacking displays – so surely one must go with <a href="http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11704_6162554,00.html">Holloway’s prediction</a> that this will be an action packed affair? Not exactly, as five of the last six finals have ended 1-0, and we often see teams understandably playing with caution. People often cite the 90’s and the excitement the playoffs brought, at this time of year in England, you’re bound to see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwbiaTz7Yvs">THAT playoff final</a> between Charlton and Sunderland which ended 4-4 after extra time and was decided on penalties. The thing that makes these matches so great and amazing is that you feel like you are a fan of one of the teams for 90 minutes; the tension and atmosphere just takes you over and you can find yourself jumping up and down for a team you have no association with. Albeit, I believe this year’s playoff final could really shake things up and be exciting. Blackpool proved against Forest that they were not here to make up the numbers, and Cardiff showed plenty fighting spirit against a passionate Leicester side.
Many American viewers will be able to relate the playoff final, and the truth is that English people love it – yet they are resilient to extend it to the top flight. In England, there is a belief that you should be rewarded over the course of an entire season, and many see a playoff as pot luck. I am inclined to agree with this, mainly due to the culture of English football I have been brought up with, but no one can deny how amazing and tense the football league playoffs are. It’s a modern spectacle of English football and it draws massive viewers in every year because of the excitement it creates. When the Premiership proposed that the fourth Champions League spot could be decided via a playoff, I was all in favour of the motion, yet it appears to have been cut down, most likely by those who are worried they will lose out on the revenue the European game creates. It’s a lottery – sure – but how much excitement does it create for the fans? You have people who don’t watch a game outside the Premiership all season sitting down in front of their screen for the playoff final, and the fans really enjoy it. The Premiership could really learn from this, American football has the Superbowl which is the most watched live event in the world every year, and it’s an amazing concept to think that it all comes down to one game; everyone all of a sudden feels the excitement which I feel can sometimes be lost in a Premiership season despite Sky’s constant attempts to remind us of GRANDSLAMDECIDERJUDGEMENT whatever.
I can’t see a playoff ever deciding a Premiership champion in the near future, but I do believe that it should be put in place to some degree in the title – the proposal of the fourth Champions League spot being decided this way should not have been shot down so quickly. I do believe that eventually there will be one league in Europe that will adopt the playoff mentality to determine a champion, and I just wonder whether this will create so much commotion that it will shake the world of football. Look at how it has transformed the Championship and the football league. In truth, if you were and English football fan and you were told that you will be promoted via top spot in the Championship or the playoffs, you would chose the playoffs as it has so much excitement about it. If you need any more proof about how exciting this game is, think about this: it’s amazing that a game in England’s second tier could even be mentioned as important or placed on the same day as the Champions league final.</blockquote>

The Playoff Final &#8211; Great Occasion Or The Greatest Occasion In English Football?

The Playoff Final - Great Occasion Or The Greatest Occasion In English Football? - World Soccer Talk

The Playoff Final – Great Occasion Or The Greatest Occasion In English Football?

<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-439" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2009/04/cardiff.jpg" alt="cardiff" width="425" height="266"></figure></div>There were some tremendous games at all levels of British football on Sunday. Cardiff and Swansea battled out a thrilling 2-2 draw. Luton gave the Football League a poke in the eye by winning a wonderful Johnstone Paint Trophy Final 3-2 against Scunthorpe. And finally we had the gasp-inducing 3-2 stormer at Old Trafford.
It was just a shame that fan behaviour cast such a pall over the whole day.
Like many fans I was disgusted with the throwing of the coin that injured referee Mike Dean in the Welsh derby, but I’ve been just as concerned by the reaction of key figures from both clubs.
Peter Ridsdale, Cardiff Chairman, said:
<blockquote>“We’ve now identified an individual who threw a coin, we believe it’s the individual whose coin hit the referee… assuming it’s the right individual he will be banned for life.” </blockquote>
Well, that’s good to know. But it wasn’t ‘an individual’ it was many individuals. The few seconds of footage surrounding the moment Mike Dean was hit clearly shows several items landing near the referee, while Swansea captain Garry Monk has claimed objects were being thrown throughout the match. Cardiff fans have commednably been more open than Ridsdale, speaking of witnessing a number of individuals throwing objects onto the pitch ranging from coins to lighters.
Does Ridsdale think that getting rid of this one person somehow solves the problem? Moreover, was this individual more guilty for hitting the referee than anyone else who tried but missed?
Cardiff manager Dave Jones said:
<blockquote>“I hope the club don’t suffer serious repurcussions as it was only one person and there were 20,000 people here… It’s ridiculous as I thought those days were long gone.”</blockquote>
Only one person, Dave? Really? And you thought those days were long gone? Good job the police didn’t share your view or they might not have sent those 450 officers to Ninian Park to try and minimise trouble between the fans.
What weasel words by both of these people. I would expect more of Jones in particular, but perhaps he is just trying to protect the club. If that is the case then he has been shown up by the Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust who condemned the ‘mindless idiots’ (notice the plural) and for those Cardiff fans who stood up and pointed out the offenders at the time. If only club officials were so forthright.
It is unfair that the whole club should be tainted by this, but football must not continually attempt to hide the truth. Whenever there is violence at a game we are fed the same line about how “these people are not football fans” – well, who are they then? There can be no doubt things have moved forward over the last 20 years, but problems still exist. Every club still has their trouble-makers.
In the midst of all this you might expect Swansea to act with quiet dignity, but manager Roberto Martinez, a good, honest, likable man, a successful coach and a very decent TV pundit, has waded in with some ill-advised comments of his own:
<blockquote>“You don’t want to see coin throwing incidents like that but looking at the overall performance of the referee maybe he was affected by it… you work all week not to get emotional performances from your players and you drop two points because of an emotional decision by a referee.”</blockquote>
In one sense, Martinez is right – Cardiff’s late penalty for the equaliser was probably the wrong decision – but to show such callous disregard of the referee’s health beggars belief. He had been hit in the end, no more than a few centimetres from his eye, yet made little fuss and carried on refereeing the game – on the whole very well. It seems incredible that rather than blaming the fan for his actions he suggests that the referee failed to deal with the situation adequately. I wonder what Martinez’s reaction might have been had his goalkeeper received a blow to the head. Would he have publicly blamed him for dropping a cross and for becoming too emotional?
The fallout from this will undoubtedly continue for some time, but what sort of punishment should be meted out by the Football Association? Ridsdale has a point in that it seems unfair to punish Dave Jones’ team for the actions of some of the fans. Cardiff have improved the image of the club in recent years and so a fine or a points deduction seems ill-fitting.
Perhaps the FA must leave it to the club to identify as many of these coin-throwers as possible and have them thrown out of all football grounds for good, but while Ridsdale continues to suggest it was only one person, this is not a problem that will disappear any time soon. In the meantime, football officials need to start being a little more honest when it comes to assessing the behaviour of some fans.

How Should Cardiff Be Punished For Coin-Throwing Incident?

How Should Cardiff Be Punished For Coin-Throwing Incident? - World Soccer Talk

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The Playoff Final – Great Occasion Or The Greatest Occasion In English Football?

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How Should Cardiff Be Punished For Coin-Throwing Incident?