The playoff system has not been kind to Mick McCarthy, but the Ipswich manager remains a fan nonetheless.
McCarthy has lost Championship playoff ties while in charge of Millwall, Sunderland and Wolves and on Saturday he will embark on another attempt to win promotion via that route when East Anglia rivals Norwich visit Portman Road in the semifinal first leg.
The fairness of the playoffs is often discussed, with the main bone of contention usually being that the team finishing sixth in the table has the same chance of getting promoted as the one which ended the season in third place.
Norwich narrowly missed out automatic promotion and finished third, eight points in front of sixth-placed Ipswich. The Canaries also defeated McCarthy's men in both league matches.
McCarthy hopes there will be no complaints from the Norfolk club if Ipswich prevail over the two legs.
''I'm a big fan of the playoff system," said the 56-year-old Yorkshireman. ''My record in them is not great, in fact I was the first to suffer disappointment when they were introduced. But I still think they're brilliant.
''Everybody always wants to reinvent the world. It strikes me that it works perfectly well. If you finish third and you feel a bit peeved that you're playing the team that finished sixth and however many points behind you, well you knew that at the start of the season.
''Finish second or first and then you don't have to whinge about the rules.
''I had to accept them 20-odd years ago when I was at Millwall and we finished third. We lost to Derby having finished loads of points clear of them. I got on with it though. You've got to.
''The playoff system makes the league exciting. It keeps a good two thirds of the league fighting for something for the majority of the season.''
McCarthy reckons no-one thought Ipswich would be in with a chance of winning promotion this season and he is relishing the cross-border battle with rivals Norwich.
''I could be at home now planning my holidays, knowing I'm going to be miserable wherever I am having not made the playoffs,'' he said. ''So, having made them, I'm delighted. It's a great chance for us after no-one gave us a cat-in-hell's chance. We are relishing the prospect.
''It's a brilliant tie for us to be playing Norwich. The build-up has been fantastic and as soon as we drew them I was immensely excited.
''It doesn't really bother me when we play them - across two semis or the final at Wembley. To get to the Premier League we have to play two teams and beat them and it starts with a tough challenge against Norwich.''
Meanwhile, Alex Neil has called on his Norwich side to take control of Saturday's East Anglian derby in the early exchanges.
Neil believes Norwich have to cope with the fiery atmosphere early on if they are to make it five straight victories over the Tractor Boys.
"It's going to be a tense atmosphere, it is going to be really vocal, it's going to be people getting into each other, it's going to be strong and physical and we have to make sure we are well up for the task and start on the front foot," he explained.
"These are games you want to be involved in. You want to be involved in the games that really matter, I am really looking forward to it. The atmosphere will be intense at the start of the game, the first 25 minutes could be a bit of a blur so we need to make sure that we are the team that are really in control."