Final Questions Answered

So this weekend the 2024/25 EFL season was slammed shut and up and down the country fans found out the final fate of the team they love and in some cases live for.

For many of those fans they already knew which league their team would be playing in next season, but for the lucky (or unlucky) few there was still a lot to bite your nails about.

With Carlisle United and Morecambe already confirmed to be dropping through the non-league trapdoor, lets start with the few things left to confirm at the other end of the EFL.

Sure we already knew that Burnley and Leeds United were yo-yoing straight back up to the Premier League this summer, but not which one of them would be crowned champions.

Leeds went into the final day as firm favourites for the trophy for surely a Plymouth Argyle side already relegated, in every way except mathematically, wouldn’t defeat them and prevent them from reaching 100 points to allow the Clarets to snatch it away.

Then an own goal by Sam Byram gifted the hosts the lead in Devon and just 18 minutes into the day Leeds were overtaken at the top by a Burnley team carving out a 1-1 draw with Millwall back in Lancashire.

By the 53rd minute the brilliant Willy Gnonto had drawn the Whites level and back into title position, only for the ribbons to turn Claret again as Jaidon Anthony edged them ahead at Turf Moor 11 minutes later. Burnley further increased their lead when Josh Brownhill completed his brace in the 93rd minute and the full-time whistle was met by jubilation of the home fans.

It would have been so much sweeter if Manor Solomon hadn’t completed the come back at Home Park to pull the title across to West Yorkshire in the 91st minute. The streets of Leeds will be bouncing tonight whilst across the border in Lancashire their joy at promotion will be tempered by becoming the first team in EFL history to hit 100 points without an accompanying title. Missing out on goal difference will make that pill an more bitter swallow.

Below them Sheffield United and Sunderland always knew their season would be continuing into the playoffs, but who would join them was still an open question.

Millwall’s loss in Lancashire saw them miss out, whilst Blackburn’s draw at Brammall Lane prevented them joining their hosts in the post-season leaving the match in the Midlands as a winner takes all showdown between Middlesbrough and their hosts Coventry. A Jack Rudoni brace being enough to secure play-off football for the Sky Blues.

The final place off place would end up falling into the laps of the lads from Ashton Gate, though it’s fair to say the Robins made it hard for themselves. Going 2-0 down to a Lilywhites team looking for a result of their own to secure safety at the other end of the table.

Ross McCrorie would salvage the day for Bristol City with a beautiful brace to send the home town faithful wild, the point would be enough to secure them the playoffs and it would prove enough to keep Preston North End up to boot.

That was only confirmed, alongside Hull City’s safety despite a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park, thanks to a Luton Town side that spent last season in the Premier League falling to a 5-3 defeat at the Hawthorns that saw them complete a brace of relegations in as many seasons.

The Hatters will be join Plymouth Argyle and Cardiff City in League One next season.

Their opponents will not include Cardiff’s fellow countrymen Wrexham as they completed a third promotion in as many seasons with a 2-0 win at Lincoln City, following a Birmingham City team that succeeded in their pursuit of 111 up into the second tier next season.

Luton will instead face Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale and Bradford City, who all secured automatic promotion from League Two.

Rovers tied up the title with a 2-1 win at Meadow Lane on the final day, that also locked their hosts Notts County out of the automatic promotion places and into the playoffs.

If they had dropped points on the final day Port Vale would have taken the title with a win, but they could only treat their home faithful to a disappointing 1-0 loss to Gillingham and head into the summer with a whimper.

Walsall’s season has been going out on a whimper for some time now, but they still entered the final day with a chance of automatic promotion if they beat Crewe at the Mornflake Stadium and Bradford City tripped up against Fleetwood Town at Valley Parade.

The Saddlers belied their abysmal form by winning 1-0 in Cheshire and looked to have secured the most miraculous promotion at full-time, till news came in of Bradford’s own miracle 96th minute winner that saw the Saddlers slide into the playoffs instead. Antoni Sarcevic is the man all Bantam’s fans owe thanks to for their timely winner.

The Saddlers and The Magpies will be joined in those playoffs by The Real Dons and The Spireites.

AFC Wimbledon secured their place after Sam Hutchinson’s 52nd minute winner to break their hosts’ hearts in a winner takes all showdown with Grimsby Town, whilst Chesterfield pounced on Salford City dropping points in a 2-all draw away at Carlisle for Will Grigg’s winner to fire them into the playoffs up at The Wham stadium in Accrington.

League One lived upto it’s name by having just one thing left to settle on the final day. Shrewsbury Town, Cambridge United, Bristol Rovers and Crawley Town already confirmed as League Two teams for the 2025/26 season.

Stockport County, Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers were already securely playing off in the coming weeks, the one left to settle is whether they would joined by Leyton Orient or Reading.

It would have been a great way for Reading to celebrate the club being sold and it’s future secured, but they never looked likely to beat Barnsley from the second the Tykes took the lead in the 52nd minute. Barnsley would end up winning 4-2 in a result that was rendered academic anyway after Leyton Orient terrorised the Terriers at the John Smith’s stadium in West Yorkshire.

Hopes of Huddersfield playing party poopers for the O’s evaporated the moment Dan Agyei gave the visitors the lead within the first 2 minutes of the match. A 4-1 victory for the East Londoner’s saw them secure that final play-off place in League One to wrap up the final question of the EFL season.

For those that made it in the playoffs await and for everyone else it’s “roll on August” when Barnet will be joined by one other team, likely York City, in coming up into the 92, whilst Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton re-join the EFL from the other direction for the 2025/26 season.