{"id":658402,"date":"2026-05-22T12:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/658402\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:02:14","slug":"from-chelsea-relegation-to-200m-game-evolution-of-efl-play-offs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/658402\/","title":{"rendered":"From Chelsea relegation to \u00a3200m game – evolution of EFL play-offs"},"content":{"rendered":"

With all the tension and drama that surrounds the play-offs, there is an argument to be made that it is perhaps the best way to win promotion.<\/p>\n

Former right-back Tommy Smith, who won the Championship play-off final with Huddersfield Town in 2017<\/a> and played in the Premier League for the Terriers, says it is the “jeopardy” which makes it so unique.<\/p>\n

“The play-offs do strange things to you. Moments in time. It brings out things in games that you just don’t see in a normal season. There’s a key word in it and that’s jeopardy,” he told BBC’s Football Daily 72+ podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith described winning the play-off final as an “unbelievable” and “incredible” feeling that will stay with him for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately I’ve got pictures around my house now, I’ve got the medal to show for it,” he added.<\/p>\n

“It’s only afterwards when it sinks in that you actually realise what you’ve achieved. It’s a surreal day and a surreal feeling.”<\/p>\n

Lyle Taylor, who won promotion via the play-offs from the Championship, League One and League Two with Nottingham Forest, Charlton and AFC Wimbledon respectively, said it is a “feeling you can’t really describe”.<\/p>\n

“It’s strange. I remember walking up there [the Wembley steps] and it hasn’t hit you that you’ve done it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I saw my parents after the finals and the emotion gets you at that point. It’s mad because it’s such a momentous day, it’s such a big part of your life and if you’re lucky enough to do it as a footballer, it’s incredible.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With all the tension and drama that surrounds the play-offs, there is an argument to be made that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-658402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}