Post by Livi News on Jan 16, 2014 18:17:52 GMT 1
Play-off format frustrates Livi player coach Burchill
PLAYERS have the day off at Livingston, so it’s an ideal time to command Mark Burchill’s undivided attention.
We sit in the coaches’ office of a club eager to secure a place in the new Scottish Premiership play-offs. Burchill reclines in his black leather seat to consider the possibility with Livingston just two points outside the play-off places.
As both player and assistant manager, he can’t mask his frustration at the play-off structure. It is heavily weighted in favour of the second-bottom club in the Premiership.
Firstly, teams finishing third and fourth in the Championship face each other in a two-legged play-off quarter-final. The winner then faces the team finishing second in a two-legged semi-final. Whoever prevails then meets the Premiership team in a two-legged final. The source of Burchill’s grievance is that there is no winner-takes-all meeting.
Having played in England’s Championship with the likes of Portsmouth, Ipswich Town and Birmingham City, he knows the excitement generated by the play-off final at Wembley. The 33-year-old is desperate for Livingston to be involved in the Scottish equivalent but feels the SPFL have missed a trick by not staging a one-off final. “It’s really disappointing,” says Burchill. “I just look at England, where you’ve got the play-off final – the £90million game that everyone wants to get to. It’s almost the biggest game in England, even above the FA Cup final. In Scotland we had an opportunity to do that.
www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/livingston/play-off-format-frustrates-livi-player-coach-burchill-1-3270423
PLAYERS have the day off at Livingston, so it’s an ideal time to command Mark Burchill’s undivided attention.
We sit in the coaches’ office of a club eager to secure a place in the new Scottish Premiership play-offs. Burchill reclines in his black leather seat to consider the possibility with Livingston just two points outside the play-off places.
As both player and assistant manager, he can’t mask his frustration at the play-off structure. It is heavily weighted in favour of the second-bottom club in the Premiership.
Firstly, teams finishing third and fourth in the Championship face each other in a two-legged play-off quarter-final. The winner then faces the team finishing second in a two-legged semi-final. Whoever prevails then meets the Premiership team in a two-legged final. The source of Burchill’s grievance is that there is no winner-takes-all meeting.
Having played in England’s Championship with the likes of Portsmouth, Ipswich Town and Birmingham City, he knows the excitement generated by the play-off final at Wembley. The 33-year-old is desperate for Livingston to be involved in the Scottish equivalent but feels the SPFL have missed a trick by not staging a one-off final. “It’s really disappointing,” says Burchill. “I just look at England, where you’ve got the play-off final – the £90million game that everyone wants to get to. It’s almost the biggest game in England, even above the FA Cup final. In Scotland we had an opportunity to do that.
www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/livingston/play-off-format-frustrates-livi-player-coach-burchill-1-3270423
