Promotions, relegations, Salford soar and Lions roar... plus Matt Watts on the PL's dropouts & new recruits
28 April 2025 | Weekend Notes brings you the biggest stories, stats and insights from the EFL weekend.
● BIG STORIES ● CHEAT SHEET ● 5IVELIGHTS ● THE VIEW FROM ● FANTASY FOOTBALL ●
The EFL town painted red…
Red for Wrexham, whose demolition job on Charlton secured a record third successive promotion, with Sam Smith at the double. Red for Donny Rovers, sent on their way by Billy Sharp. A red-letter day – at least metaphorically – for Port Vale, who have a promotion party to organise after an away day soirée. And loads and loads of red cards.
Then there was the red marker pen crossing out whole seasons. In short, Ali and George can no longer use the phrase, “From Carlisle to Argyle”, because the EFL landscape has shifted. From Barnet to Harrogate, anyone? …I’ll get my coat.
Welcome to the penultimate Weekend Notes.
🚨 Big Stories: penultimate permutations
The decisive moments as we head to the EFL finish line…
LEAGUE TWO
🦈 What lies beneath — 🆙 Doncaster 2-1 Bradford, Wimbledon 0-2 Port Vale 🆙 —Donny and Vale’s promotion-clinching wins shook up the play-off race. First: Wimbledon, who’ve occupied a top-7 spot since the start of December but have won just two of their last ten games, could tumble out of it if they lose to 8th-place Grimsby on final day. Second: Notts County, who beat Harrogate 3-1, can unexpectedly snaffle automatic promotion if they beat Donny while Bradford lose at home to Fleetwood and Walsall drop points at Crewe.
Third: that there Bradford, who self-destructed with a ridiculous red card (Aden Baldwin) for foul and abusive language at half-time in a game of huge magnitude. WTF. Anyhow, their form is a mess: two draws, two defeats, two reds in their last four. Right now, Graham Alexander can only pray in one direction... to Walsall.
🤢 Ad nauseam — Walsall 0-1 Accrington Stanley — … yep.
👋 Sal-utations — Salford 4-1 Colchester — There’s always one. And this time it’s Salford. They flew past an uncharacteristically messy Col U defence on Saturday, and now need only to beat relegated Carlisle on final day to confirm their play-off spot. Other than the promoted sides, they’re the only team in the top 10 with three victories in their last six games. Good reflection on them, or bad reflection on the rest?
LEAGUE ONE
3️⃣ Three down with one kick — Burton 2-1 Cambridge🔻 — A Cambridge equaliser in the 84th minute changed the League One relegation picture. At 1-1, and after a red card apiece, Crawley had hope, Bristol Rovers had hope, and even Cambridge – were they to score another in the dying embers – had hope. However, Dylan Williams’ winner in the third minute of injury time effectively confirmed survival for the Brewers and, in one fell swoop, relegated three teams. Gary Bowyer arrived with Burton one point and one place off the bottom. They’ve been a top-half side in terms of points tally ever since – what an incredible job he’s done.
Elsewhere, weekend wins for both mean it’ll be a final-day shootout for the last play-off spot between Reading (who host Barnsley) and Leyton Orient (who travel to Huddersfield, needing only to match Reading’s result).
CHAMPIONSHIP
😇 Saviour: Shan the Baptist — Luton 1-0 Coventry — Luton dunked Cov in the 12.30, where an early red card for a debated last-man tackle gave the Hatters an 11v10 advantage. They peppered the Coventry box with corners (18 of them), but Liam Walsh’s rash push – his third sending-off this season, for an average of one every five 90s – levelled the numbers in the second half. Matt Bloomfield’s side seemed to have lost momentum. Things became scrappy. But in the 90th minute, Bradley Collins punched at thin air from a nothing ball lumped forward and Shandon Baptiste mopped up, squeezing the winner, via a flailing defender, into an empty net.
The win had big implications at both ends of the Championship table.
🔀 Implications at the bottom…
Preston 1-2 Plymouth Argyle🔻 — Neither Mustapha Bundu’s surge of form nor his opening goal could save Plymouth: maths, and Luton, had already sent them down. Still, Miron Muslić’s side shocked Preston, showing cockle-warming bottle given the circumstances. PNE piled up 2.4 xG but trailed 2-0 until a late consolation. Seemingly safe for months, Paul Heckingbottom’s team have sleepwalked into a final-day clash where opponents Bristol City have the play-offs to play for.
Cardiff🔻 0-0 West Brom — Aaron Ramsey’s caretaker spell has been about almosts, nearlys, and heartbreaks. Cardiff missed chance after chance against West Brom (conceding a fair few, too, it must be said), having drawn with Oxford last weekend despite dominating. They were unable to find a winner, and drop into League One with no final-day drama to come.
Hull 0-1 Derby — This wasn’t supposed to happen: Hull have fallen into the bottom three. Their 12 shots from distance illustrated a cautious approach from both sides. A tight game was decided late when substitute Nathaniel Mendez-Laing won a free kick and Nat Phillips nodded Derby ahead – one chance, one goal, one huge shift.
Stoke 0-2 Sheffield United — Stoke’s poor goal difference leaves them dangling after a flat loss to a much-rotated Blades team. Sluggish, passive, brittle — if they lose against Derby on final day, they could yet be in trouble.
🔀 Implications at the top…
Millwall 1-0 Swansea — Alex Neil needed a perfect day to maintain Millwall’s play-off hopes, and I was glad to spend it with him (via Sky Sports News). A 1-0 win over in-form Swansea, coupled with Cov’s loss and another bafflingly bad Boro display against Norwich (0-0), means they’re still in with a top-six chance. Trouble is, they’re up against a Burnley side hungry to win the title, whilst…
Blackburn 2-1 Watford — …Rovers will face Sheffield United, having given themselves a final-day shot at the play-offs by beating Watford. Redemption for Val Ismaël after that nightmare start? Should they grab 6th, they’ll be playing Blades three times on the spin.
…and, finally, if Bristol City don’t beat Leeds tonight, there will two play-off spots up for grabs going into final day. Who do you fancy to make it? We made our predictions last week.
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
🤠 A Hollywood hat-trick — Wrexham are the first side in Football League history to win three consecutive promotions, bettering Swansea (1977-81) and Wimbledon (1982-86), who each rose from the Fourth Division to the top flight in four seasons. Wimbledon went on to win the 1987/88 FA Cup; Swansea were back in the fourth tier within five years. Take your pick, Wrexham.
📉 Fall of a sudden — Before this season, relegation-bound Cardiff hadn’t spent a single week in the Championship bottom three since December 2016.
🔵 Unnatural blues — With 105 points, Birmingham have smashed the 2013/14 Wolves team’s League One points record (103) and have two matches with which to break the 2005/06 Reading side’s Football League record (106). They’ve also now secured an all-time positive goal difference, scoring 7080 goals and conceding 7077.
🏀 Stockport’s bouncebackability — Dave Challinor’s Couny have gone behind in four consecutive matches… and taken 10 points from them.
😡 Bring it (d)on — Doncaster Rovers’ last six matches have featured seven red cards: one for Donny and one for each of their six opponents.
🧤 Gloves like sieves — Wimbledon have played three and a half matches since their goalkeeper last made a save – since half-time away at Doncaster on April 12th, they’ve conceded four shots on target in total against Donny, Chesterfield, Gillingham and Port Vale, and let in every single one (while scoring none of their own).
😔 Homesick Baggies — This is the first time in West Bromwich Albion’s history that they’ve gone 15 away games outside the top flight without a win (D8 L7).
💨 Out of Gas — Bristol Rovers were 9pts clear in mid-March before being relegated in April, having taken one point from nine games (away at Wrexham, of all places).
📋 Obligatory Burnley Defence Statistic — In keeping a 30th league clean sheet, Scott Parker’s side have matched the record set by Port Vale’s now-famous 1953/54 Third Division North team (the Clarets’ 5-0 win over QPR also marked the first time since 1920/21 that they’ve won three games in a season by 5+ goals).
👍 Going Well-ens — Leyton Orient have recorded two separate five-match winning runs in the league for the first time in their history.
⚜️ Royals abroad — Reading have won back-to-back league away games for the first time since November 2021.
💩 LLLLosers — Not one, not two, but three Championship teams are on a four-match losing streak: Sunderland (4th), Watford (13th) and Preston (20th). Norwich narrowly avoided being the fourth by drawing with Middlesbrough.
🏴 Anti-Welsh sentiment — Losing 3-0 to Wrexham, Charlton have failed to win any of their eight league fixtures against a Welsh club over the past decade; will it be Cardiff they’re facing next season, or Swansea and Wrexham?
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it Burnley doing their best impression of Bielsa’s Leeds United?
Cardiff were still clinging onto hope to the tune of ooohs and ahhhs as they went close four times in ten seconds.
Most wouldn't; Ben Woods — what a way to end another season of survival for Accrington Stanley.
Will’s all Wright! Free-kick laser to level it up for Swindon.
An Ollie Rathbone-shaker and Sam Smith’s *chef’s kiss* volley take Wrexham into the Championship.
The View From…
It’s official: Ipswich will join Leicester and Southampton in the Championship next season.
It’s only the third time in Premier League history that all three promoted teams have gone straight back down, and it’s just happened twice in two seasons. It’s also the first time in Premier League history that all three relegations have been confirmed with four games remaining. Statements such as these don’t exactly make good reading for Burnley, Leeds and the winners of the play-offs, so how exactly do you stay in the Premier League?
The gap between the 17 top-flight teams and the three newcomers has never been bigger. But, in the last ten years, the likes of Brighton, Wolves, Brentford, Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest have all managed to establish themselves in the top flight, which should give Burnley and Leeds some hope. From my own experience supporting one of the grubby 17, my advice would be to build from the back, place an emphasis on physicality, focus on any potential marginal gains and prepare to suffer.
It’s all very well dreaming about playing free-flowing football and breaking into the top half or even qualifying for Europe, but more often than not, the first couple of seasons are simply about survival. Then you can start trying to upgrade your squad (and possibly your manager) and implement a more ambitious style of football. There’s no getting away from it: recruitment is key. You can spend over £100m in one window, but unless you spend it well, it won’t move the needle.
Having been badly burned in the past, it would appear that Scott Parker and Burnley have built a promotion-winning team with the Premier League in mind. With one game remaining, they’ve already equalled the all-time EFL record for the number of clean sheets in a single season. They’re also going to break the EFL record for the fewest goals conceded. Although the Premier League is an enormous step up, these are solid foundations to build upon.
Daniel Farke and Leeds will have to adapt – presuming the German is given the opportunity to lead them in the top flight. It’s all very well having Junior Firpo and Jayden Boyle playing high and wide when you have a significant talent advantage, but it’s another thing entirely when you don’t. The 2-2-6 formation in attack that Ali referenced on last week’s Monday pod might, at times, have to become a 6-3-1 out of possession.
As EFL lovers, is it important that at least one of the promoted teams stays up? Yes, I think it is. With every passing season, the gap between the 17 established Premier League clubs and the rest gets bigger. In fact, it’s no longer a gap – it’s a chasm. If the likes of Burnley and Leeds aren’t successful, then it could well become an abyss.
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
Huw do you turn to with one game to go? Mr Davies on the web-based touchline for Team NTT20 this time out, with a side comprising some double- and even triple-game-weekers.
An inspired 0%-selection pick of Chesterfield’s Ashley Palmer clocked up a 15-points, almost a third of our 46-point total. T’was a low-scoring week in general, with Lees Legends topping this week’s tally, and of course, Mr Browne’s Boys the NTT20 League Champions elect.
Would love some NTT FEFL content next season - maybe a pod (there's a gap in the market). I'll volunteer to be a bit-part helper.
This was the annoying thing about Leeds in the PL.
They had done the hard part and survived 2 seasons, the second by the skin of their teeth, and then compounded it with bad recruitment, including manager, which gave them no chance
Let’s hope they have learned from it, and hope the manager is up to it