The Play-offs. Loved by some, hated by others. Glorious for the neutral, but agonisingly heart wrenching for those involved. Sunday’s limp display in Birmingham not only ended the best run in the club’s history, but also ended our slim automatic promotion hopes meaning that we are condemned to the play-offs for the second year in a row. Last season’s clinching of 6^th spot in the league brought so much excitement and pride, yet there is a real sense of disappointment this time around. It was a poor performance on Sunday, the sort of football that we haven’t seen from Fulham in a long time, and it was hard to watch.

However, let’s not forget what this team has done this season. This Fulham side is incredibly talented and they have entertained us with the most incredible, unbeaten run this season thanks to some of the most beautiful football that the Championship has seen in a long time. Some of the football that we have played this year has been sensational, and it is vital that we remain behind the team to help them over the line.

If you have read my articles throughout this season, you will know that I love looking at the stats behind the game so I couldn’t resist looking at the play-offs over my life time, so over the last 25 years. The table below shows the teams that made it to the play-off final since 1992-93, alongside their final league positions and it highlights some interesting statistics-

The Key Statistics at a glance-

• The team who finished third have played in 16 play-off finals since 1993, and they have won nine of those finals.
• The most common final pairing has been 3^rd v 5^th, with this fixture having featured 8 times since 1992-93. The 3^rd placed team has won just three of those fixtures.
• The team who have finished 3^rd have only been absent from 2 of the past 10 finals.
• The team who have finished 5^th are the next most successful play-off team statistically since 1992-93, having appeared in 13 finals and have won eight of those.
• The team that finished 6^th have won the play-off final four times and have finished as runners up five times.

A lot of people like to claim that finishing 6^th with momentum is the best way to enter the play-offs, but we know from last years’ experience that it isn’t quite as simple as that. We can see from the table that in 25 years the team that has finished 6^th have only made it to the final nine times and have progressed through to the Premier League on just four occasions. What might be surprising is that they are just as successful as the 4^th placed team, who have been promoted through the play-offs themselves just four times. The 3^rd placed side are the most successful with nine victories overall, while the team that has finished 5^th has won the final eight times.

What struck me the most was that the most common final pairing was between 3^rd and 5^th, with the team finishing 5^th taking five victories. On this basis, I’d say that the safest bet would be Middlesbrough beating Fulham in the play-off final later this month.

But hopefully not.

The truth is that we have another chance to gain promotion to the Premier League. We got beaten in last year’s semis and then didn’t quite make the automatics this year, so that must mean third time lucky, eh?

#COYW