The introduction of 'innovative change' is usually a signal for the National Front to dust off their protest placards and banners and set up camp in London's Parliament Square for a few days.

It wasn’t quite like that in 1986 when the English football authorities first came up with the idea that promotion would not only be granted to the team finishing at the top of a division but also to two or three other teams by way of a series of play-off games. This, they claimed, would create more interest for clubs towards the end of the season and keep alive their chances of being one of those lucky clubs.

Of course the cynics were quick to jump on the bandwagon. It would be unfair, a lottery, just another means of making money for the chosen few. Wrong.

What the play-offs have done is add a spark of fire to the last few weeks of the season for many clubs who would otherwise have simply been playing out time, waiting to put the shutters up for the summer and shoot off to some exotic holiday hot-spot.

The play-offs have proved to be an exciting prelude to the season. For 16 clubs (I’m including the Nationwide Conference) they are a series of Cup Finals, a roller-coaster ride of thrills and spills, a chance to strut their stuff on telly, an extra two or three games that can only end with cheers or tears. But then again, that’s written in the Book of Life: You win – you smile; You lose – you cry.

This year’s play-offs went pretty much to form . . . more or less. Morecambe, that little Lancashire seaside town better known as a cemetery with lights, will be playing in the Football League next season for the first time in their history. They finished in joint second spot in the Conference, so there can be few complaints from the eggheads.

Bristol Rovers were the exception as they won the Second Division play-off final after finishing 12 points adrift of MK Dons, who ended the season proper in fourth place. Personally I have no sympathy for any club that moves out of town to start a new life and masquerades under the banner of MK Dons. KO Bolton? SW Norwich? Can’t see it!

Blackpool might consider themselves back in big-time after towering over all the opposition and rocking Oldham Athletic in the final (pardon all the puns). But they did finish in third place in the league, four points clear of  Yeovil and 11 goals better off. It will be good to see more of those fabulous tangerine shirts again next season.

Finally, Derby County, with probably the achievement of the season and rightfully restored to a place in the top echelon. When Billy Davies took over at Pride Park, the Rams were heading in the wrong direction, but he dragged them up by their boot laces and only just missed out on an automatic promotion place.

But you would expect nothing less from the abrasive little Scot, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a man he greatly admires, Sir Alex Ferguson. And that’s hardly surprising when you consider that Davies’s father worked in the Govan shipyards on the Clyde alongside Fergie’s dad. His mum worked in a mental hospital and he was 'educated' on the streets of Glasgow.

Davies tells the story of how Sir Alex failed to sign him as a player when he was manager at St Mirren. “Biggest mistake of his managerial career,” says Billy. Fergie’s version of events is that he wasn’t at St Mirren long enough to sign anybody before he took over at Aberdeen.

Ironically, Stephen Pearson, who scored the promotion-winning goal against West Brom on Monday, played under Davies at Motherwell before moving to Celtic. And when Davies took charge at Derby last year, one of his signings was – yes, you’ve guessed it – Pearson from Celtic.

Derby are now back where they belong, under a manager who knows where he’s going. The club have hit the jackpot financially and promotion is said to be worth £60 million to them. Knowing his background, it’s highly unlikely that Davies will fritter away much of the club’s new-found wealth on 'big names'.

He’s canny enough to build steadily and solidly – just like his dad used to do.