Friday's main story:
The Premier League is considering a proposal to introduce a play-off for the fourth Champions League place. The teams that finish from 4th to 7th could play a mini-knockout competition.
At least 14 of the 20 clubs would have to approve this change and due to existing TV deals the play-offs couldn't be introduced for at least another three seasons.
Surely we already have a play-off for Champions League qualification... it's the 38-game Premier League. 
England should be represented in Europe by our best teams, and after 38 games the top four are obviously the best qualified.
Spanish, Italian, German and other European sides would love it if England sent one weaker team into Europe.
Over the 17 Premier League seasons the 4th placed team has finished an average;
* 4.7 points ahead of 5th
* 10.6 points ahead of 7th
Last season 4th placed Arsenal finished on 72 points...
* 9 points clear of Everton (5th)
* 19 points clear of Fulham (7th), with a record of 14 wins, 11 draws and 13 losses; hardly a record to worry Europe's big teams.
It's a nice idea to have different clubs in the Champions League, but they should qualify by finishing in the top 4. Anyway, this season it looks like one of the 'Big Four' might miss out on Champions League football next season.
Then there is the problem an extra 2 or 3 games would cause for the four teams in the play-offs, especially in World Cup and European Championship years. How would the play-off games be squeezed in around the FA Cup Final before the players had to be released to join up with their own National Squads. These play-offs wouldn't just affect England's National Squad, but roughly half the Countries represented at a World Cup. And if a top international player was injured during these play-offs and missed the World Cup, the Premier League would be crucified.
It just looks like the Premier League are looking for another way to make more money, remember the PL's previously proposed '39th Game' has rightly been blown out of the water.
An afterthought: Imagine if this proposal is accepted and in it's first season Everton, Aston Villa, Spurs or Man City finish 4th and then lose the Champions League spot to one of the 'Big Four' in the play-off. The Chairman of the club that came 4th, but still failed to land Champions League football, would wish he'd never voted for the
play-offs.