Delight and heartbreak: A standard English football season

(l-r) Sir Alex Ferguson, Brentford heartache at Wembley, Craig Bellamy, Barnet's relegation woe

The phrase "What a season" is possibly one of the most repetitive sayings to describe a football season but it is sometimes difficult to put it differently. This is one of the reasons why I absolutely love the sport. Yes, you can argue the distinctive negative points about the beautiful game such as the escalating footballer's wages, and the growing concerns of racism and hooliganism, but overall - the tension, anticipation and passion can overshadow the doubters who grouch the same argument timelessly.

But we can agree that we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly this season. Take the last month for example - we reflect on the legacies of worldwide superstars like Sir Alex Ferguson and David Beckham who bid farewell to their commitments as they retire from management and playing career respectively. The bad is we have seen heartbreak from teams such as Portsmouth and Wolves who are to endure a season a division below they were playing this year. Meanwhile, ugly scenes occurred in Newcastle as their supporters clashed with police after being thrashed by Sunderland in the Tyneside Derby in the same weekend when dozens of Millwall fans let their side down when they lost at Wembley Stadium to Wigan Athletic during an FA Cup Semi Final.

As for the predictions I made last summer for this season, it is fair to say that I have some reasons to gloat. I have predicted some teams in their correct outcomes however due to the sheer unpredictability of this season, some teams I expected to do well, didn't. Let's go through them division-by-division.

How I thought Premier League would look

I will start scrutinising my Premier League predictions. I have the top five teams (almost) in the right order. It almost seemed inevitable that it would be Manchester United's year. They appeared comfortable throughout the season. Chelsea started well but between November and February, they fumbled while Arsenal and Tottenham have played consistently well all season. I'm glad Andre Villas-Boas has done so well for Spurs. His performance almost matched Chelsea's results last season when he coached the Blues. Roman Abramovich got rid of him but the "damage" was already done. I would have had the top seven correct, had West Ham excelled. The Hammers however, performed well in their return to the top flight, finishing comfortable in tenth.

I would like to congratulate Swansea City and Norwich City who finished higher than one expected. I thought they would have found their second consecutive season at top flight difficult but, Swansea in particular, had a brilliant season. Their coach Michael Laudrup is an admirable manager and I feel he has made South Wales his home and I can see him coaching there for a few more years. My prediction of Wigan Athletic to go down did come true. As much as I think they are great for the Premier League, I am relieved to see them relegate. I am one of those football supporters who were annoyed with Wigan's form, starting poorly then perform like champions in the last seven games of the campaign. Despite lifting the FA Cup, their league form wasn't inspiring enough to see them stay up. They join QPR and Reading. The latter surprised me. They have a strong team but they weren't utilised to their full potential. Brian McDermott pushed them as far as he could but it's up to new manager Nigel Adkins to lift them back to the big time and keep them up. Like Birmingham City, Reading seem to be the team who relegate, then promote, then relegate again. The odds for both sides to promote next season would be worth betting for.

How I thought Championship would look

For me, the focus of the Championship season surrounds a city where I was raised as Cardiff City finally accomplished an objective which had bothered the football club for a very long time. They showed real guts and determination this year and seeing Swansea City's success at the top flight, Cardiff craved the same. Malky MacKay's managerial approach was something Cardiff needed and now they are a more disciplined side and more confident when under-pressure. I for one will really look forward in seeing how they will fare in the Premier League next season. I did predict them in the play-off places this year, but many had thought that too because of the Bluebird's previous misfortunes.

However, Cardiff's success may have been due to the poor performances from the supposed big guns. There was a lot expected from the likes of Blackburn Rovers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City but these failed to amaze their supporters. Blackburn was close to relegation while Wolves will start next season in League One. Both sides had disappointed but it did not help with their owners changing managers during critical stages of the season. I also thought that Huddersfield would do well but their Championship status was confirmed only at the final minutes of the season.

The teams which I thought would go down did go down, with the exception of Millwall who came close to finishing in the bottom three. They finished 20th with 56 points which if you had that number of points in another season, that would finish you closer to 12th than 22nd. This shows the sheer quality of the Championship. Barnsley and Bristol City have struggled in the past few seasons and hopefully this relegation would give them enough motivation to return them to the second tier of English football.

How I thought League One would look

League One saw thrills and spills as my predictions skills faltered in contrast to my performance in the Premier League and Championship. However, if you swapped my Portsmouth with Brentford, Bournemouth and Yeovil Town with Crawley and Preston and MK Dons with Doncaster, then my predictions would have deemed more accurate. No? Oh never mind.

My excuse for my awful predictions was that because Sheffield United and MK Dons had decent seasons last year, they would do better this time around but the quality of this division is increasing. To think that Yeovil Town will be a Championship side next season with a stadium which holds less than 10,000 people is surreal.

Brentford was very unfortunate. They were moments in securing automatic promotion until they missed a penalty against fellow promotion hopefuls Doncaster on the 90th minute only to see their opponents score with an immediate counter attack. Doncaster was therefore promoted, and west London based club tried to make amends in the play-offs but lost to Yeovil in the final, at Wembley. They need to retain their confidence next season, or finish 23rd like I thought they would finish.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Portsmouth suffered their second consecutive relegation and hopefully with fewer distractions off the field, they will return to the big time in no time. Hartlepool will also start next season in League Two after they struggled throughout the campaign along with Scunthorpe and Bury.

How I thought League Two would look

In League Two, the focus went on Bradford City. In previous seasons, they have been a mid-table side with very little to offer - a stark contrast to a decade-and-a-half ago when they were in the Premier League enjoying the recognition they deserved. However this season, they defied all odds by visiting Wembley Stadium twice; the first time saw them second best in the League Cup final to Swansea, while the second time promoted them back to League One after an emphatic victory over Northampton Town. I am pleased for them as people are starting to see the excellent football I once remember back in the year 2000.

With regards to my predictions for the fourth tier of English football, I expected Rotherham United to do well and they didn't let me down. Gillingham didn't disappoint either as I think they were perhaps too strong for this division and feel both them and fellow promoted side Port Vale will fare well in League One next season.

Finishing in the bottom two in League Two is usually gut-wrenching for those involved because it is never clear whether the side in that position would ever recover. We saw Rushden and Diamonds suffer financially, as to Darlington and Stockport County, but some teams are recovering - newly formed Chester FC being a prime example as they are to play in the Blue Square Premier next season after Chester City were declared bankrupt in 2010. Can Barnet and Aldershot recover from their disappointing season after suffering relegation from League Two? Time will only tell. However, next season, we shall welcome Mansfield Town and Newport County back to the Football League - the latter I am particularly pleased with.

Next season will be fascinating, that's for sure. People have doubted this Premier League season with some branding it as more boring compared to other campaigns, simply because the champion and relegated teams were confirmed before the final match day. But how will Manchester United perform without the pure influence of Sir Alex Ferguson and with David Moyes? Will the supposed inevitable Jose Mourinho return to Chelsea be as successful as when the Portuguese first coached the London-based club? Will Gareth Bale stay at Tottenham, or develop further with a Champions League club? Have a good (football) summer, everyone.

To see how the Football League tables looked, click here.
To see how my predictions look in a different light, click here.