BALTIMORE, Maryland May 7, 2014 - In less than 24 hours the English Championship Playoffs will commence, with the league's third and final promotion to the Premier League at stake. England, and indeed, most European Soccer Leagues do things differently in the postseason than do those of us here across the pond. In England, the first and second place teams, at the conclusion of regular season play, reap certain rewards, It is the teams just outside of one and two that playoff for a similar reward. Thus, in the English Championship League, the first and second place finishers, Leicester and Burnley, have already been promoted to the Barclay's Premier League when the 2014-2015 season begins play in August. In the Championship Playoffs, a third promotion is at stake. The Playoffs will be between the third, fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers. Third Place Finisher Derby County will take on Sixth Place Finisher Brighton and Hove Albion in a home and home series, with the winner playing the winner of a home and home series between fourth place finisher Queens Park, and fifth place finisher Wigan Athletic. The two teams that survive the first round home and home, will collide head-on in a winner-take-all championship game at legendary Wembley Stadium. This will not be some humdrum affair in a half-empty stadium. No indeed. In 2009, when Burnley won these playoffs to advance to the Premier for the 2010-2011 season, over 60,000 English Soccer Fans jammed Wembley for the tense and exhilarating final. Burnley is in the city of Lancashire in north central England, and over half of the town, literally, made the trip to London for the game.
The Championship Playoff Schedule for this season is as follows:
Thursday 8 May 2014: Derby County at Brighton and Hove Albion, 7:45 pm GMT
Friday 9 May 2014: Queens Park Rangers at Wigan Athletic, 7:45 pm GMT
Sunday, 11 May 2014: Brighton and Hove Albion at Derby County, 5:15 pm GMT
Monday, 12 May 2014: Wigan Athletic at Queens Park Rangers, 7:45 pm GMT
Look for the championship game at Wembley Stadium in London to follow about one week after the above two series are completed.
The BBC has done a very nice article recounting the ups and downs of Burnley's run to promotion. Here is the web page: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26834809
Sean Dyche comes across as a real thinking man's coach. When he applied for the Burnley job and his turn to be interviewed by Burnley's Board arrived, Dyche came with a power point projector and made a power point presentation about where he proposed to take Burnley and how he would get them there. As the BBC article recounts, the Claret lost Charlie Austin, a player who scored over half their goals the prior season, in August, 2013, just a few days before the season started. Yet they started strong and kept it up, overcoming more than a little bit of adversity along the way. In the BBC interview, it sort of seemed like Dyche was saying that losing Austin made the team happier, more team-like. This sometimes happens when one player scores so high a percentage of the goals. When such a player leaves - providing the team doesn't take a nose dive - the glory gets spread around.
Burnley announced this week that three players from this year's side, and a reserve keeper, have been released. The most prominent among them are Midfielder David Edgars and Defender Keith Treacy. Treacy's release is a bit of a surprise inasmuch as he started nine matches this season. Edgars, on the otherhand, has Premier experience...with Burnley. He was on the team that was promoted at the end of the 2008-2009 campaign and has been with the Claret ever since. This year, however, he has seen only minimal action. The other two lads getting the heave ho were Brian Stock and Keeper Nick Liversedge. Liversedge did not dress for any of Burnley's games this season. Tom Heaton was outstanding in the goal from the outset. On the two occassions when Burnley went to a back-up, it was the Polish Keeper, Alex Cisak.
The Burnley Management has announced that the Claret will train for a week, during the preseason, in Austria, and will play a friendly with FC Grossklein (Burnley will travel to Austria for a pre-season training camp in July that includes a game against FC Grossklein (Großklein) on Sunday, July 20, 2014. The match will be at the home team's grounds and will begin at 5 pm KO (i.e., local time). At the Burnley web page there is information about prices, etc. FC Grossklein will play in the Styrian Championship next season. Burnley is finalizing the remainder of the preseason schedule and expect to announce it soon.
The Burnley web page is at http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com
Thanks so much for reading the post. Thanks for taking the time to write. I appreciate it.
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John William Trotz