I am 100% against playoffs of any kind. I loathe the idea of it in the Championship already and would hate to see them introduced into the Premier League.
The Championship table right now. One more game to go:
1st - Leeds - 90pts
2nd - West Brom - 82pts
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3rd - Brentford - 81pts
4th - Fulham - 80pts
5th - Nottingham Forrest - 70pts
6th - Cardiff City - 70pts
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7th - Swansea City - 67pts
It is worth noting that Cardiff have a GD of 7 and Swansea have a GD of 6.
Swansea, with a big win and Cardiff with a loss would push Swansea into 6th, therefore the promotion spaces. There is a scenario here where the team who are 7th going into final day could still end up playing Premier League football next season. How on earth can that possibly be right or fair? If the table stays as it is right now, Brentford will miss out on second by 1 point and they could still not go up. Similar-ish case for Fulham. It's utter nonsense and not fair.
The playoffs devalue the hard work of the teams who have worked to get into those better league positions. Brentford are currently 11 points clear of Cardiff. Why should they have to play additional games after already playing 46? If you finish third, you go up. If you don't, then you stay put. We need less contrivances in football, not more. This is just an example of football made for TV and money, rather than for the good of the game and in the name of fairness. Yes, I understand that not all things are fair in football or life, but it doesn't mean we have to go out of our way to make things more trivial and difficult. It disadvantages the teams in the higher positions (in this case, third and possibly fourth - since Fulham could still finish third on the final day) and it gives an incentive for teams who, frankly, haven't earned it. Why should the 6th best teams (according to the table) be playing Premier League football next season?
The same logic applies for the Champions League. If you have finished in the Champions League spots, then you've earned the right to play in the competition. (let's put aside the argument over how many spots there should be for a moment). I hope that we never have to see such a thing in the Premier League.