Premier League rejects fourth place play-off plans
Premier League rejects fourth place play-off plans
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Thursday, 04, Mar 2010 05:55
Alex Steger
The Premier League has rejected the idea of a play-off for fourth position and a place in the Champions League.
The idea was put forward at last month's league board meeting and was met with a mixed response from managers at the time.
The proposal was for automatic Champions League spots to go to the leagues top three teams at the end of the season, rather than the current four, and for the sides finishing from fourth to seventh to play a mini knock-out tournament.
At the Premier Leagues board meeting on Thursday, however, club chairmen voted against further pursuing the idea at this stage.
The so-called big four, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal were reportedly quick to oppose the idea although other clubs were said to be interested in theory.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore conceded there had not been enough support for the idea.
He told Sky Sports News: "The main topic of discussion was the Champions League play-off for that fourth qualifying place.
"We gave a lot of discussion, a lot of detail, a lot of data. But there was not enough support to take the idea forward, so we won't be discussing that proposal any further."