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Interesting article from the BBC football website:-

Thrilling. Nerve-jangling. Dramatic.

Play-offs are part of the furniture of English football, with an entire season's work coming down to one game in the quest for promotion. Or that is how it usually works.

But Sutton Coldfield and Bedford Town are competing in this season's eighth-tier play-offs knowing they cannot be promoted, and could face each other in a final which neither could go up from.

A Football Association restructure of the non-league pyramid means that of the seven play-off winners at that level, the two with the lowest points per game ratio in the regular season will remain in their current division.

"How bizarre would it be if our two teams are in the final on Monday and neither of us can celebrate?" Neil Murrall, general secretary of Southern League - Division One Central club Sutton Coldfield, told BBC Sport.

"We have the Walsall Senior Cup final on Tuesday (7 May), so our manager may want to put fringe or young players into the play-off final to keep the first-team fresh - it makes a mockery of the Monday game."

Clubs were informed of the rules before the start of the season, with the restructuring "designed to cater for easier-to-understand promotion and relegation processes and address travelling times, distances and associated costs", according to the FA.

"By having the temporary measures for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons only it allows for a gradual restructure rather than causing too much disruption in any one playing season," explained the FA.

However, that has not stopped some from questioning the unusual circumstances.

"I don't think there would have been a good solution," said Murrall. "We're happy to be involved, but there's a bit of a bad taste knowing we can't go up."

Sussex side Haywards Heath also went into the play-offs without a chance of promotion, losing their dead-rubber semi-final at Horsham on Monday.

'It's an absolute disgrace'

Bedford said they are one of "several clubs" to have informed the FA and Southern League of their "disappointment" at the situation.

They play Corby in their play-off semi-final on Wednesday and say they will follow an FA request to "uphold the integrity" of the competition.

"The football world has already seen North Ferriby United and Thamesmead disappear this season, and uncertainty surrounds many clubs up and down the leagues including Bolton and Bury," the club said.

"This opens up the possibility for a sixth or seventh play-off winner to be promoted, should the vacancy become available."

Only eight of the 28 sides went into the eighth-tier play-offs knowing they would actually go up if they were victorious, including Cheshunt, whose manager Craig Edwards is nonetheless unhappy with the setup.

"There's 20 teams that don't know, if they win the play-offs, if they're going up which is to me an absolute disgrace," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"It says everything to me about the FA and the way they treat football at this level, they don't give a monkeys. They wouldn't do this at a higher level, they wouldn't dream of doing this in the Football League."

 

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As an Orient fan was delighted to see them get up automatically. Those play offs look perilous.

Not had a chance to see them in the league this season but going down for the final of the diddy cup in a few weeks. Hopefully goes better than the last trip to Wembley where that fat disaster Steve Evans took Rotherham up through the play offs at our expense

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1 hour ago, WALMOT said:

Interesting article from the BBC football website:-

Thrilling. Nerve-jangling. Dramatic.

Play-offs are part of the furniture of English football, with an entire season's work coming down to one game in the quest for promotion. Or that is how it usually works.

But Sutton Coldfield and Bedford Town are competing in this season's eighth-tier play-offs knowing they cannot be promoted, and could face each other in a final which neither could go up from.

A Football Association restructure of the non-league pyramid means that of the seven play-off winners at that level, the two with the lowest points per game ratio in the regular season will remain in their current division.

"How bizarre would it be if our two teams are in the final on Monday and neither of us can celebrate?" Neil Murrall, general secretary of Southern League - Division One Central club Sutton Coldfield, told BBC Sport.

"We have the Walsall Senior Cup final on Tuesday (7 May), so our manager may want to put fringe or young players into the play-off final to keep the first-team fresh - it makes a mockery of the Monday game."

Clubs were informed of the rules before the start of the season, with the restructuring "designed to cater for easier-to-understand promotion and relegation processes and address travelling times, distances and associated costs", according to the FA.

"By having the temporary measures for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons only it allows for a gradual restructure rather than causing too much disruption in any one playing season," explained the FA.

However, that has not stopped some from questioning the unusual circumstances.

"I don't think there would have been a good solution," said Murrall. "We're happy to be involved, but there's a bit of a bad taste knowing we can't go up."

Sussex side Haywards Heath also went into the play-offs without a chance of promotion, losing their dead-rubber semi-final at Horsham on Monday.

'It's an absolute disgrace'

Bedford said they are one of "several clubs" to have informed the FA and Southern League of their "disappointment" at the situation.

They play Corby in their play-off semi-final on Wednesday and say they will follow an FA request to "uphold the integrity" of the competition.

"The football world has already seen North Ferriby United and Thamesmead disappear this season, and uncertainty surrounds many clubs up and down the leagues including Bolton and Bury," the club said.

"This opens up the possibility for a sixth or seventh play-off winner to be promoted, should the vacancy become available."

Only eight of the 28 sides went into the eighth-tier play-offs knowing they would actually go up if they were victorious, including Cheshunt, whose manager Craig Edwards is nonetheless unhappy with the setup.

"There's 20 teams that don't know, if they win the play-offs, if they're going up which is to me an absolute disgrace," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"It says everything to me about the FA and the way they treat football at this level, they don't give a monkeys. They wouldn't do this at a higher level, they wouldn't dream of doing this in the Football League."

 

Bedford and Sutton Coldfield both lost.

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5 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

South Shields lost 2-1 to Warrington, so don't go up this season.

Double dose of bad luck as they (presumably reserves) lost 0-1 to Shildon in the Durham Senior Cup Final at the Stadium of Light on Friday night.

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7 hours ago, G_Man1985 said:

Haha did he hell. Makes an ass of the penalty probably thinking he has cost his team so pretends he is injured. A good effort .

So dam lucky

To be fair to him, he had done the ground work during ET when he went down and stretched the same quad.

Definitely suspicious though!

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