Concord ineligible for the play offs

Link

So we now only need to avoid a 6-0 defeat to be home on Wednesday. And if we better Chelmsford's result we get a bye to the semi-final.

Makes these pictures of Concord celebrating like they'd already won promotion a bit embarrassing.

https://twitter.com/ConcordRangers/status/1120408590089695232

The announcement from the league is a bit premature perhaps regarding who plays who. As I read the table and tomorrows fixtures Concord could still finish 4th. If that happens presumably 5th would get a bye and 6th would play 7th?

I read it that Concord will now be treated as finishing last in the playoffs irrespective of wherever they actually end up.

A technicality Les.
Yes, Concord would and quite possibly will, finish 4th if they beat Eastbourne, Chip'n'pin beat Chelmsford and Billy Ricky beat us by less than 6.
So the league wording would read
Wednesday 1 May Eliminator. 5 v 6, which would be City v Billy Ricky.
If those results are as above but we lose by more than 6 goals (it is Essex remember), we would be away to Billy Ricky on Wednesday.
Simples.

Ashley wrote:I read it that Concord will now be treated as finishing last in the playoffs irrespective of wherever they actually end up.

Interesting Ashley. I hadn't read it that way, but I'm quite often wrong. My better half is always reminding me.

This is a bit vague....."The format assumes Concord Rangers are removed and notionally placed 7th."

Assumes?

The one thing I can't believe (as I put on a previous thread) is the lateness of all this. As mentioned, the photos of the celebrations, as laughable as they were, demonstrate that the players had no idea. Surely someone had been in touch with Concord to warn them? Or they could have at least realised the situation two years ago with Hungerford and Poole.

Fair play to Concord for reaching this level, didn't seem like they were bankrolled then, looks like the Cowleys are simply tremendous managers. But if you want to go further again, when investment comes in you must be more careful. I can't imagine this Concord side cost the same as the past couple of seasons where they've barely progressed past mid-table. They signed one or two regular first team players from Chelmsford for a start - a much bigger club. I can't imagine they moved for a dream to play for Concord, they must have offered a few more quid. So, if the money was there, improve the ground. Otherwise you look very silly in this situation and it's unfair on other teams.

They'd argue that they don't need a bigger ground/more seats when they're in the Conference playing Harrogate or Barrow, but once you have the possibility of hundreds of visiting fans and copious staff (there would be far more media demand for a start) you have to improve.

Typically the BBC confuses it on their website!

"Only five teams will contest the play-offs instead of six with Concord being placed in a notional seventh position.
Whichever side finishes fourth, currently Chelmsford City, will receive a bye into the semi-finals and face the winner of an eliminator being played on Wednesday."

My understanding is that Woking will play at home to the winner of the Eliminator, and Welling will play at home to the team getting the bye

That's my understanding too.

Thanks for clearing that up - I think!

Question is, would we want the bye by getting 4th (and then having to play Welling), or rather have an extra game (at home) v Billericay and then playing against Woking away.
Tricky one....more variables with the extra game, but Welling will be a tougher semi tie in my eyes.
Mind you, may well have to play them in final whatever!
Think I would take the extra game at moment and get a good crowd and some momentum at TP on Wednesday.

I’d go for the extra game. Jerry commented last time the team had a break about how it affected them. City lost..... a revenue bonus hopefully

Hmm, rather have just two hurdles to overcome than three personally. It’s actually quite nice having this debate rather than whether we will finish 9th or 10th if results go our way.

Also prefer the midweek off as I have assignments galore. And the snooker’s on. Would happily not have to do my programme pages. By the way, still need someone to take those on next season...

No brainer to get the bye if possible. Home teams haven't great record in this play off process. And who would want extra game anyway?

Agree with Mark, it is nice to be having this debate.

Have to say I would go for the bye rather than the 'eliminator'. The gap in time is only a week - previously it has been longer gaps that have left us 'rusty' - and we could potentially have to play 120 minutes (I assume there will be extra time) on the Wednesday and then regroup for the Sunday along with the risk of injuries as well.

Look. If we get a bye we play Welling. If we beat them we will probably have to beat Woking.
If we don't get a bye, we probably have to beat Billericay, then Woking, then probably Welling.
No brainer......get 3 points tomorrow or do better than Chelmsford do at Jericho Park.

The problem of course is that if we get the bye then we travel to Welling on the Sunday - a very difficult team to play. We have a very good recent record against Woking and we'd presumably have a larger following.

Good point Pinkeye......but of course Woking may well be beaten by Chelmsford, or St Albans, or Dartford, or Wealdstone, or Slough........which means if we get the bye and when we win at Welling, we would have a home game in the final against St Albans or Dartford or Wealdstone or Slough.
On balance, I still favour finishing 4th.
It's time we won at Park View.

Oh....and nice to see the forum busy. Let's hope it continues tomorrow with our result being favourable and wins for Macclesfield and Notts County.

As Kermit has pointed out, another advantage of finishing 4th is that potentially it could mean being at home in the final. After all, that is what happened last time, when we finished 4th and Woking 5th.

As for whether it would be best to play Welling or Woking first, it might well be that we have to beat both of them and as Kermit said it is about time we won at Welling.

What will be will be. I'm happy either way and nothing will be easy.

Unless my memory is failing me, we won at Welling last season, in a re-arranged evening game, due to the original fixture being rained off (after we had travelled there too  Grr). Having said that Welling seem to be a better team this season, therefore Woking may be an easier team to travel to in a semi-final - beat them (as we did in the League this season), then hope that Welling slip up in their semi, providing us with a home draw in the final - Yeeees.

In some respects we could say that we have lost out due to the circumstances. If Concord had been involved we would have been playing them instead of Wealdstone.
It would have been possible, therefore, for both us and Wealdstone to have reached the final with the game being played at Twerton.

Likewise Welling's opponents Chelmsford will have had a week off whereas Woking face either us or the Stones who will only have a three day break. But as Woking finished higher I guess that's fair enough.

I actually think this format should be used going forward. To me, finishing second shouldn’t receive the same reward as finishing third. Woking have been in the top two basically all season, too. I'd go as far as saying I wouldn't complain if the runners-up only had one match to gain promotion whether others could have two or three.

Still, think back to pre-2004 when play-offs didn't exist and we'd have some real duff matches from about February onwards when it was clear there was nothing to play for. That would have been the same this, was probably from then when it was clear we wouldn't close the gap on Torquay.

And we talk about the Concord shambles, I see both Southern League Central play-offs have been postponed because of Stratford fielding an ineligible player, so they don't know how many points they'll be deducted. A complete fiasco.

Apparently Stratford played the ineligible player back in February but the league has only just got around to sorting it out!