Quote Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa View Post
The first teamers will now have presumably next week off too, so won't have played for three weeks by the time their first playoff game comes around. That's a brave strategy. I hope they get stuffed in the playoffs though as resting players this early doesn't sit well with me.
It is a brave strategy, and they could be ring rusty when the playoffs start. However, they are also not losing key players due to injury or suspension.

Couple of points from me.

First, Huddersfield have, in my opinion, earned the right to rest players by achieving a play off spot early.

Next, if Huddersfield get promoted it will be worth £120m to them. The integrity of the league (as with the cup competitions) is being challenged by the TV money and the huge differences in income following promotion.

If Nottingham Forest go down, it's because they haven't won enough points. Relegation is rarely down to bad luck. The target to stay up is usually a consistent 50 points. Forest didn't lose any points because of this game.

Lastly, so the FL fines Huddersfield. £200,000? £1m? Would you bet a portion of your money on a team winning a 4 way competition at odds of 120-1 or more? That's what Huddersfield have done.

Of the 4 teams in the playoffs, I hope Huddersfield go up. They haven't been there since 1972, and they have had bad years in recent times.

I'm sure that, if Cardiff were in a similar position, we'd be having the same arguments but with more sympathy for our own club. Some may argue we lost more integrity in our strive for promotion than Huddersfield lost on Saturday.

Further, it could make any forthcoming Huddersfield v Blackburn (I note they are barely mentioned as an aggrieved club) or Huddersfield v Forest game tasty next season!