I am. If you finish 3rd you deserve to go up. If you finish 4th you don't
Not strictly true.
IF the rules were explained that the top 3 go up at the end of the season as they do, like the old style rules except 3 points for a win etc, then yes. But given that the rules DON'T dictate that as they don't, sides will plan accordingly at the end of season?
Consider the following example table of a season, with points and GD going into the final game;
Team A 104 +57
Team B 87 +31
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Team C 85 +30
Team D 83 +29
Team E 81 +15
Team F 72 +12
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Team G 72 +10
With the final day fixtures looking like;
Team A v Team D
Team T (A side who've been down there most of the season yet have hit form in their last 3 games, have roared out of the relegation zone from grinding out low scoring results & need a draw to guarantee safety v Team B
Team C v Already relegated, injury hit Team X.
Team E v Team L, midtable side with their minds on the beach
Team F v Team G
Now aside from the obvious, such as Team F v Team G being the single one game to watch with both sides going on the attack, managers of sides would approach games far more differently than if they knew it was just "The top 3 go up."
Team B for starters have a fair chance of getting a draw from their last match as the side who need a draw to escape relegation could pack men behind the ball.
Team C therefore are going to put their shooting boots on and go for it, as they need to, to have any chance of the autos. They may as well as even if this rebounds on them they'll only drop from 3rd to 4th. Boo Hoo. They'll likely also want to win by a few, in case Team B draw and GD comes into it.
Team E are more likely to win, they're at home against a side with $od all to play for and want to get 4th for the home leg in the playoffs.
Now the crunch question. If you were the manager of Team D, currently sat in 4th, what would you do? If your reply is to go for it, all guns blazing, no guts no glory etc then I'd say that was more than a little naive. Would I balls do that.
With a win, there's no chance of the autos, no chance of anything except finishing 3rd "for pride". And this if Team C fail to beat the cannon fodder at home.
With a draw, you guarantee 4th spot and the second leg of the playoffs (and possible extra time) at home, in front of your own fans. Unless Team E win by 8 goals!
With a loss you let a likely to win Team E jump you and are consigned to 5th, with second leg advantage gone.
Bearing in mind also you're away at the League leaders by far who score goals for fun, have a decent defence and wouldn't mind beating Reading's championship points record! Only a complete muppet of a manager of Team D would set out for the win at all costs IMHO!
However IF it were the top 3 only to go up, ie no playoffs then Team D would I imagine set out vastly different....But it isn't. So they wouldn't.
All results go as is most likely. The shock result of the day is that Team C, leading 2 nil with 8 minutes left to go concede a goal from an individual mistake letting in a player from the fodder who wants to put himself in the shop window and jump the sinking ship. This is followed by a controversial penalty a minute into injury time, yet still they finish 3rd as Team D get the draw they need (though with a win they WOULD have finished 3rd FWIW)
And this is just one example.
