A View From The Stands #2: Why The Premier League Should Look To Cyprus for Late-Season Inspiration
Pep Guardiola is the latest among managers and coaches from England’s top football division to rebut the idea of a European Super League, a prospect that would be economically damaging for teams lower down in the national footballing structure. In his comments, he did, however, mention that something had to be done to solve the issue of a lack of stakes in the late-season under the current league system; ‘quality, not quantity will help the top flight’ he said. The idea of reducing the number of clubs in the Premier League, which currently has 20 member teams, has long been resisted by medium to small size clubs in the division; both sides have a point and there can be a happy medium.
It is true that countless times the English Premier League entered its final phase with little to no stakes for at least ten of its twenty teams. Too often do we see two relegated teams batting the ball around for ninety minutes much to the irritation of the fans. Or mid-table nothing-games between two teams who are in no danger of relegation but neither in mathematical contention for the title. This issue in the Premier League is what is driving the looming threat of the European Super League; why should Manchester City and Liverpool, teams so astronomically ahead of their lower-mid-table counterparts, have to play matches against them in the same divisional league? There is though, across the continent, a constitutional solution.
The Cypriot First Division is a domestic football league that has, over its eighty-seven-year history, been restructured numerous times and, while it may have been changed again since its, what I believe to be the best format, its shape remains resistant to the summertime lethargy that the English Premier League falls foul of year on year. Due to the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the current season is being contested between 14 teams as the 2019–20 season was abandoned altogether. To illustrate my point more clearly, I will use data from previous seasons which follows the usual parameters. The format of the Cypriot First Division is as follows:
12 teams are competing in the division. The first part of the season (the Regular Season) consists of each team playing one another home and away thus 22 games are played by each club. After that point, the league table splits in half; teams placed 1st to 6th enter than Championship Round and the teams occupying the places 7th to 12th enter the Relegation Round.
From there, the teams play a further round of games (10 each, everyone playing everyone else home and away) and, at the end of this round, the teams finishing in the bottom 3 places of the Relegation League will go down and play their football in the Second Division next season. The teams who finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 4th in the Championship League get the title and a place in the Champions’ League qualifying round, a place in the Europa League first qualifying round and a place in the Europa League second qualifying round respectively. What this results in is a two-legged season where there is something to play for at all times; if a team finishes the Regular Season 6th, their points go with them into the Championship Round and they have an opportunity to play teams of the same calibre as them for a place in a European club competition next season. Furthermore, if a team finishes 12th at the end of the Regular Season, that is not to say that they are doomed as they have a chance to avoid relegation by playing other teams more similarly matched to them.
Better still is the model that the division was using between 2007 and 2013. This model had the same Regular Season as its successor, 14 teams still played one another home and away but, in this format, the bottom two teams got instantly relegated in February. They would play no more football until September when they would do so in the Second Division. The remaining 12 teams would then be divided into 3 groups; 1st-4th constituted Group A, 5th-8th Group B and 9th–12th Group C. Each of these groups had rewards at stake. In Group A, all teams aside from that which finished 4th received a reward. 1st place won the title and a Champions’ League qualifying place, 2nd and 3rd, Europa League qualifying places. In Group B, there was a Europa League Qualifying place available for the winner and in Group C, the bottom two teams after their 6 game season would meet in a relegation play-off to decide who would be the third team relegated that season. This model is ideal as it means that, even down to the last games of the season, every single team has something to play for. It wasn’t without its faults though hence its eventual overhaul. The largest problem was that the winners of the Cypriot domestic cup were awarded a Europa League qualifying place and, since the country can enter only 3 teams to one European tournament, that meant that, if the team who won the cup wasn’t a team who had already got a Europa League place, the winner of Group B got nothing, making it redundant. The only fix to that would have been to deny the cup winner a European place which is realistically impossible.
A hybrid version of these formats could aid the English Premier League. Here is how the format would look if applied to the current season. If the season ended today (Wednesday 27th January 2021), West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United would be instantly relegated. The league would then split into two: Man United, Man City, Leicester, West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Arsenal and Aston Villa will go into the Championship Round and Chelsea, Southampton, Leeds, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton and Fulham will go into the Relegation Round. These teams would then all play one another. Let’s say, hypothetically, that Man United win the league and earn a Champions’ League place. City, Leicester and West Ham would also get places in Europe’s most elite club competition. Liverpool, who finished 4th for example, would get a Europa League spot and there would be one more Europa League place (perhaps in the second qualifying round) that goes to the team who finishes 10th, top of the Relegation Round Table. At the other end, say Fulham and Burnley finish 18th and 17th; they then go to Wembley for a relegation playoff which would surely be a highlight of any season. Broadcasters would then have more high-stakes games to show fans which possibly opens the door to the re-institution of top-flight football on terrestrial television; the relegation play-off could be shown each season on BBC1. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here.
My point is that many sports such as NFL have a system where teams who are not necessarily the highest-ranked over the initial phase of the competitive year can be rewarded for a late run of form or change in attitude; in other words, no team is damned by their early-season performance. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to the Superbowl this season and they did not win their division in the Regular Season neither were they considered favourites do so through the post-season. If the English Premier League adopted a system such as the current Cypriot First Division, it would be a step towards ensuring that stakes, spectacle and sport remain present in the league even in the twilight phases of any given season, an outcome of endless benefits to players, clubs, sponsors, broadcasters and, most importantly, fans.
Max Pleasance
