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McKenna: I Can See the Thinking Behind Play-Off Expansion Proposal - Ipswich Town News

Town manager Kieran McKenna says he can see the thinking behind the proposal to extend the Championship play-offs to six clubs.

Preston North End chief executive Peter Ridsdale has revived the initiative previously put forward by one-time Crystal Palace and Bristol City chief executive Phil Alexander, who is now interim-CEO of the National League.

The proposal broadly follows the structure of the National League’s play-offs with the fifth-finishing side hosting the eighth-placed team and sixth at home to seventh in one-off matches.

The winners would then play the teams third and fourth in two-legged semi-finals - differing from the National League where there are one-off games throughout - before the Wembley final.

"I’ve only seen that this afternoon,” said McKenna, who is yet to compete in the play-offs as a manager.

"I get it, sort of extends it. But I feel like it’s really competitive anyway, if you look at the last few seasons in the Championship and the way teams can go up and down the league with a run and how tight it’s been at the bottom.

"I know the teams at the top for the last one or two seasons have hit a really high points total, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to continue forever.

"There’s no doubt, even coming back into it, you realise again watching the other teams and the other games, it’s one of the most competitive divisions in world football already.

"The gap between every team is small, every team has good players, you can get good players in the Championship whether you’ve got a big budget or a small budget. It’s one of the most competitive divisions anywhere.

"Extending that to give a few more teams something to fight for in the last couple of games, would probably bring more jeopardy to it at the end, so I can see the thinking behind it.”

So he’d give it the nod if it were down to him? "I’d have to think about it a little bit further.”

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