PLAY OFFS THIS WEEK-THEY WERE FIRST PLAYED FOR IN 1892-3

Football League test matches were a series of post-season football play off matches organised by the Football League, to determine the membership of each division, between the worst finishers of the First Division and the best of the Second Division. These matches were first contested at the end of the 1892-3 season following the inaugural season of the Second Division, and were replaced with automatic promotion and relegation from 1898-9.

Unlike the modern-day England Football League SKY BET Play-offs, contested since 1987, which are only contested between the four teams below the automatic promotion places in each division, test matches involved the bottom teams of the First Division and the top teams of the Second Division going head-to-head. This meant that the Second Division champions were not guaranteed top-flight football, as was the case with Small Heath in 1893. On no occasion have all of the Second Division and First Division sides been either respectively promoted and relegated or remained in the same division in any season through this system.

From 1893 to 1895, six teams competed for three places in the top division. Below is the 1893 Test Match Series. Each team played one match against the corresponding team from the other division (Second Division champions versus the bottom First Division side, and so on) at a neutral venue, usually close to the designated home team. The winners of each game were considered for election for First Division membership for the following season, whilst the losers were invited to the Second Division. SO Newton Heath (now Manchester Utd) beat Small Heath (now Birmingham City) 5-2 after 1-1, Darwen (now AFC Darwen in Non-League) beat Notts County 3-2 and Sheffield Utd beat Accrington Stanley 1-0.

Without Work Nothing!

From 1896 until 1898, the series was revamped into a mini-league format, with four teams competing for two First Division places. The Second Division sides played both First Division teams on a home-and-away basis. When the proceedings have concluded, the top two finishers were elected into the First Division and the bottom two were invited to the Second Division for the following season. As the 1898–99 First Division was expanded to include two more teams, the 1898 test match series was ultimately a dead rubber as all four competing teams were elected into the top tier.

Tonight' s Championship Play Offs First Leg involve: The Tykes, Barnsley whose 5th place in the division was (78 pts and +8 gd) who attempt to get back into the Premier League, playing their first leg against Swansea City 4th place (80pts +17 gd) ko 8.15, a club that has also been there.  

Parallel is a tie bewteen Bournemouth 6th place (77 pts +27gd) v Brentford 3rd place (87 pts + 37 gd) @ 6pm

Second leg is on the 22nd. The Final will be on the 29th at Wembley.

The Swansea squad of 22 includes 4 Welshmen! The owners are American. 

Barnsley have a squad of 26 and 17 are English; the rest is a mix of  Wales, Denmark, USA, Kenya, Finland, Austria, Nigeria and Poland. The club's owners are a mix of a Chinese American, Chien Lee, Billy Beane an ex-Major Lee Baseballer. He is the subject of  Michael Lewis' 2003 book on baseball economics, MONEYBALL which was made into a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt as Beane.                                   The local Cryne Family

and Neerav Parekh a Mumbai business who deals in analytics and uses this in his company "v Phrase", apparently worth a view billion $