A real shame those two brutal injuries, and/or playing in a team built by Tony Mowbray, robbed him of the chance of playing in the Premier League. He may not have had the pace, but I think his excellent technique and positioning would have made him effective at a higher level. Sadly for him it just wasn't meant to be.

And with that, one of Leicester and Everton are guaranteed to be relegated. One has to think Everton have a decent chance of beating Bournemouth at home on the final day, or at least getting a point, so Leeds desperately need a win tomorrow. Fair play to Forest for sticking with Cooper. Pretty much everyone thought he was toast a few months ago, but it seems keeping faith with him was ultimately the right call.

One of Leicester or Everton going down for sure as things stand.

I believe 24 is the cut off for what is classified as a young player in these awards. Not sure why it's that age specifically mind.

I'd expect Dack to find another Championship club, would be very surprised if he dropped to League 1 at this point. Even with his limited appearances with us this season he still contributed goals and assists, so I definitely don't think he's finished at this level by any means. The main thing for him will be to get through a full pre-season somewhere without a recurrence of injury. If he can get back to something resembling full fitness I think he could be very effective at Championship level, albeit he'll probably always be a higher injury risk now due to his injuries.

No reason to think JDT won't continue to work as normal unless an offer comes in for his services from elsewhere, at which point he would obviously have to consider his future. I think the only conclusion you can draw from him preparing for the new season is that he isn't planning to resign. One imagines he would already have done so by now if he was going to.

In general I know he doesn't have much say, but I'm sure he's permitted to have some input. It wouldn't surprise me if he's put Dack's name forward to the recruitment team, even if it isn't ultimately his decision.

I think it'd be fascinating to see Luton go up, considering the size of the club. It'd be interesting to see how PL teams handle a stadium like Kenilworth Road. You would imagine even one season in the Prem would be transformative in the short-to-medium term for a club like Luton. That can have its benefits, but also some major pitfalls if the money isn't spent wisely.

Tbf I imagine a result like that shifts you from anger to just shellshocked disbelief.

Surprisingly not best pleased.

Wonder if that paves the way for Dack to Sunderland? Have to think Mowbray will be floating the idea to the recruitment team. Ayala as well perhaps?

That's what you call bottle. Coming back from 4-0 down to 4-4, conceding in extra time and coming back again, then scoring all five of your penalties. Fair play, what an incredible match.

I guess we'll see. By the sounds of it we were paying too much for Hirst (although admittedly you could argue anything above 0 was too much) and by the sounds of it we were going to pay a significant amount for O'Brien for six months as well. Would have been a fantastic get, but a lot of money for a position that was second priority to a striker. Nonetheless, it's a big summer for the recruitment team and it'll be a chance for them to prove that January was an aberration rather than the standard. We did some good deals in the summer with the likes of Hyam and Szmodics, so have to hope there's more of that on the way - preferably with the quality coming specifically in attack, seeing as we've let two of our main historical sources of goals leave.

From memory I don't think he has much if any say on transfers at Sunderland.

Can't say I've had any emotional reaction to Dack leaving, but that probably speaks to my general disconnection from the club on an emotional level in general. Appreciate his efforts in the League 1 season for sure - since then we've been treading water, whilst teams with far less time and resources in the division have finished above us and in some cases in the playoffs. Pretty much all of my fond memories of Dack will be from that season in League 1, with everything else after that being a contribution to the journey to nowhere. Not Dack's fault mind, before his injuries he was the only player in the team really worth paying money to see, but it's a shame that after the L1 season his outstanding performances aren't linked to anything we achieved as a club. Unless you count finishing mid-table in the Championship as an achievement.

Spot on. Teams that fail sit around bemoaning luck, teams that progress make their own. Score more than one goal per match and, with our generally quite sturdy defence, we don't have to worry about a last gasp equaliser.

Useful when fit, but that was only roughly 30% of each season, so I can't say I'm bothered about this one. With his age, wages, injury record and questionable ability to fit into JDT's style of play it seems like the right decision to release.

One of Coventry or Luton on their way to the Premier League. Coventry who were in League Two six years ago, only been back in the Championship a couple of seasons and were in such dire financial straits at the start of the season that they sold us their best defender on the cheap just to get by. They've struggled recently to even find a stadium to play in. No wonder we can't compete, right? What chance does our club have against a powerhouse like that? And let's not point to Gyokeres - he was bought for something like £1m whilst we pissed a combined £12m up the wall on Brereton and Gallagher. Meanwhile Luton and their 10,000 seater stadium are in their second playoff campaign, having also been in League Two as of six years ago. Beyond our abilities to compete with them either, clearly. In the meantime we haven't had a single playoff appearance in the 10+ years since we were relegated. Just on an endless "journey" to nowhere under a succession of nearly men. People championing this season where we finished 7th on 69 points as the most memorable ever season under Venky's, which says it all. No shade being thrown at Luton or Coventry here for the record, fair play to them for what they are achieving against the odds, amazing effort by both clubs - but give over with the excuses for Venky's, Mowbray and everyone else. Don't tell me we can't compete whilst Luton or Coventry are about to get promoted. The only reason we aren't competing like they are is because the club has been and continues to be owned by clueless fools and staffed with people at the top levels lacking any kind of drive or motivation. Excluding JDT from that for the record. I hope I live long enough to see Venky's sell this club so that we have an actual chance to thrive again. I say that as someone in their mid-30s, but it genuinely feels like they're going to go on owning us for decades at this point. Never even a whisper of a remotely serious inclination to sell and finally end this dark chapter of Rovers' history.

If our season had a tombstone, this would be the inscription.

A shame, but JDT never really seemed keen on him and I assume wants to put those wages to better use. Worth noting despite his lack of general playing time he was our joint-third top scorer this season, along with Szmodics and only one goal behind the illustrious Sam Gallagher - who is now the highest scoring player from last season still under contract. Scary times if our recruitment team don't get their act together this summer.

I mean, you can call it brutal but you could also argue it's more just reflecting the reality of the situation - that the team in 6th are not as good as any of the teams above them, so it's a slim chance they defeat two of those - one over the course of two legs - to get promoted. Watching Luton and Sunderland last night I also don't think we would have gotten past Luton. I don't think we could have coped with how they played in the second leg especially.

I don't really think it's harsh for Leicester to go down, if they do. A well managed club would have dealt with the Rodgers situation a lot sooner, found a good replacement and recruited better in January. Leicester did none of these things so if they go down it's simply because they didn't act fast enough, or in some cases at all, to ensure they stayed up.

It may be that Mowbray's five year 'journey' here has cost him in this instance, as the Sunderland hierarchy may be using that as a barometer to judge whether he's capable in the long run of delivering promotion. This season he had somebody else's team to manage and nobody can deny he's done a fantastic job, but give him longer to build his own team and it's more likely it ends up like Boro and us, nearly-rans under him who never made it. It would be a harsh decision based on what he's achieved in the short-term, but you could argue that based on a long-term view it's a ruthlessly correct decision if he is replaced. Obviously depends on who they appoint though.

It's actually been around that threshold more or less since the 17/18 season - 20/21 you'd have been safe with 29 points!

I'd be surprised if they stayed up now, honestly, but stranger things have happened. They beat Wolves a few weeks ago, so I think they're capable of beating West Ham at home. The problem is that, even in a scenario where they manage to get three points from their last two games, they need two of Forest, Everton and Leeds to get no more than a single point from their last two games. It's an unrealistic scenario, I agree, but you never know. If they manage to somehow scrape a draw at Newcastle and two of Leeds/Everton/Forest lose their matches then it'll be all to play for on the final day.