What's the rule.....

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

From the football league website

The Football League | About Us | Regulations | Regulations Detail | Section 3 - The League

9.2 If two or more Clubs have the same number of points, goal difference and goals scored the highest placed Club shall be determined by the respective League records against each other, taking into account in order of precedence, points gained, goal difference and goals scored. If the above procedures do not separate the Clubs, then the Clubs concerned shall play off a deciding League Match or Matches under arrangements approved by the Board on a neutral ground. The net gate money after deducting the usual match expenses shall be equally divided between the two competing Clubs. Any Club staging such a play off match shall be entitled to charge as an expense against the receipts of the match 10% of the gross gate receipts after deduction of Value Added Tax. In the event of such a match being arranged by the Board to be played on the ground of a Club which is not a member of The League, then a similar charge as an expense against the receipts of the match shall be paid by The League who shall otherwise be responsible for the financial arrangements made with the Club staging the match. These provisions shall determine the ranking of Clubs in their respective Divisions.

So it's head to head results before a play off match to determine final league position.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

It's obvious is'nt it....everything exactly the same...the team furthest South goes through......

 

[AlbionRob]

Then why place Watford above Palace on same basis ?

Maybe because Watford beat Palace earlier in the season?

 

[SirElliotBennett]

Alphabetical is such a stupid rule. If GD, GS and head to head is all the same it should go down to discipline or something

 

[Gary Leeds]

Alphabetical is such a stupid rule. If GD, GS and head to head is all the same it should go down to discipline or something

Not a good idea with our recent record Alphabetical works pretty well for us normally

 

[TheMajor]

Maybe because Watford beat Palace earlier in the season?

Could be - I was thinking more along the lines of the League classing Palace officially as "Wank*rs" - but that still doesn't work alphabetically.

 

[DanielT]

good job it's not down to who has the sluttiest cheerleaders and it was between us and palace

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Alphabetical is such a stupid rule. If GD, GS and head to head is all the same it should go down to discipline or something

It's not a rule - just a convenient spin-off from the fact that, in mid-season, they probably use the sort feature on an excel spreadsheet to prepare tables for publication. You can always over-ride this by further trickery, such as rearranging the published table to give precedence to the Albion (which is what I would hope the Argus and the Official Club Site would do).

I'm happy to consider the Albion to be second in the current table, equal with Blackpool.

 

[Hampster Gull]

It is HIGHLY unlikely to ever happen.
I wouldn't worry yourself about it!!

It happened to me during the 1988-89 Newcastle Poly 5 A-Side league. Our team, "Tell you what mate, don't knock it until you've tried it", finished joint top with exactly same stats. Playoff resulted in us finishing second, helped by one of our team turning up absolutely plastered.

Happy days.

 

[8ace]

I think they had a playoff in Serie A not that long ago to decide which team got a European place.