What Coventry City owner Doug King did at meeting that decided EFL Championship play-off change | OneFootball

Coventry City's owner made a suggestion that means the Championship's new play-off structure is slightly different to the National League

The Championship play-offs have been expanded to six teams, with sides placed third to eighth now taking part in the dramatic post-season action from the start of next season.

The expansion to allow sides who finish seventh and eighth the opportunity to win promotion to the Premier League has been done to even out the competition in the Championship and stop recently relegated sides from using their parachute payment money to immediately bounce back.

Additionally, it means that sides who would usually peter out into mid-table have a more attainable target for the end of the campaign, rather than partaking in meaningless fixtures in April and May.

It's a format that is used currently in the National League, with sides placing second to seventh battling for the opportunity to join the league winners in the EFL, and one that the majority of EFL clubs are eager to implement.

67 of the club's representatives present at the meeting at The Belfry on Thursday voted in favour of the expansion, with Tranmere Rovers being the only side to vote against, per a report from The Athletic.

The report also states that there'll be slight differences compared to the way that the National League play-offs operate, and this is due to a suggestion made by Coventry City owner Doug King.

Doug King's suggestion adds play-off advantage to the side finishing 3rd in the Championship

The way the National League play-offs work sees the sides that finish second and third progress to the semi-finals, with the four teams below them playing a one-off eliminator to see who progresses to face them. That is the only similarity to the new Championship play-offs, however.

In Step 1 of the Non League pyramid, the semi-finals are also kept at one leg, meaning a side that finishes seventh only needs to win two away games against the sides placing fourth and third to get to Wembley, like Southend United did last season.

The revised EFL play-off will see the semi-finals remain two-legged affairs, with the higher-ranked sides playing the second leg at home.

Additionally, the Athletic reports that Coventry owner Doug King's suggestion means that the teams that finish third will play the lowest-ranked side remaining in the semi-finals, rather than their opponents being pre-determined before the eliminator games.

This means that, if the side placing sixth beats the team in seventh, but the team in eighth shocks the fifth-placed team, then third will face eighth, rather than sixth, giving them the clear advantage and more of a reward for being the next best out of the two automatically promoted sides.

Coventry City will hope that they don't need to worry about benefiting from Doug King's suggestion

Whether you agree or disagree with the decision to expand the play-offs to six teams, and the main consensus seems to be that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it,' there's no doubting that this new format puts more onus on sides to finish in the top four, and does reward those who fall just short of automatic promotion.

Doug King's suggestion is a smart one, but both he and the Coventry fanbase will be hoping that his side won't be in the Championship next season, and can watch on from afar in the Premier League to see how this change pans out.

The Sky Blues have seemingly weathered the storm that hit them across December and January, and actually saw them relinquish top spot momentarily, winning four consecutive games to end February and establish an eight-point gap on Ipswich Town in third.

The end is in sight for Frank Lampard's side with 11 games to go, and, with their top-flight return in their hands, they'll be hoping that they don't falter and have to go through the lottery of the play-offs once more.

If they did, and finished third, at least they'd receive an advantage from next season, but that shouldn't have to be a thought that crosses their minds anytime soon.