From Chelsea relegation to £200m game – how play-offs have evolved

From Chelsea relegation to £200m game – how play-offs have evolvedImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Middlesbrough beat Chelsea in the second ever Second Division play-off final to win promotion to the top tier and relegate the BluesByBen Ashton, BBC Sport England and Chris Peddy, BBC Sport EnglandPublished29 minutes agoChelsea have just finished 18th in the top flight, seven points clear of the automatic relegation zone. But after a two-legged play-off final against Middlesbrough, the Blues are relegated to the second tier.The year was 1988 and the play-offs were taking place for just the second time, having been introduced the season before.Boro had finished third in what was then the Second Division and won promotion by beating Chelsea 2-1 on aggregate.For those first two years of the play-offs, Division One teams would compete with Division Two clubs to decide who went up and who went down.It would be the last time that format was used. And a lot has changed since then.What started out with games being played in front of 25,000 people at Ayresome Park has become the richest game in world football, worth about £200m and contested with a 90,000-crowd watching on at Wembley Stadium.BBC Sport takes a look at the evolution of the play-offs.Why were the play-offs created in the first place?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Centre-back Peter Shirtliff scored twice in four minutes in extra time for Charlton to give the Addicks a 2-1 replay win in the first ever play-off final in May 1987When the play-offs were introduced in the 1986-87 season, it was to facilitate a restructuring of the leagues – including reducing the top tier from 22 to 20 clubs – in an attempt to improve the financial state of English football at the time.The plan was for the format to run for two years and be kept if they were considered a success.And now 40 years on, evidently that was the case.Charlton Athletic, who were in Division One, were the eventual winners in the inaugural campaign, beating Leeds United of Division Two 2-1 following extra time in a replay after their two-legged final had ended 1-1 on aggregate.A year later, only 15,841 fans attended that replay at St Andrew’s in Birmingham. It remains the only time Boro have won a play-off final in four attempts.After Boro overcame Chelsea in 1988, the format was changed and only the four teams finishing directly below the automatic promotion spots in the second tier qualified for the play-off semi-final.Crystal Palace beat Blackburn Rovers 4-3 on aggregate in 1989 in what would be the last two-legged final.Since then, the format has been the one we are all familiar with, two-legged semi-finals and a one-off final at Wembley – barring the five seasons between 2001 and 2006 when it was held at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium while the new national stadium was built.Forty years of the EFL play-offs – 15 key games and moments