Former MK Dons boss Liam Manning will see his Bristol City side take part in the Championship play-offs after they managed to squeak into the division’s top 6.
A 2-2 draw at home to Preston North End was enough for the Robins to hold onto 6th place, with Bristol City just getting in ahead of Blackburn Rovers and Millwall after they both failed to win.
The draw saw them leapfrogged in the table by Coventry City, who beat Middlesbrough 2-0, but it was still enough for the the Robins to finish 6th.
They will take part in the Championship play-offs for the first time in 2008, with Bristol City aiming to reach the top flight for the first time since the 1979/80 season.
Bristol City will play Sheffield United, with the first leg taking place at Ashton Gate on Thursday (08/05) and the return game taking place at Bramall Lane four days later.
Against the Lilywhites, Bristol City found themselves 2-0 down at home to a Preston side who still weren’t guaranteed of staying up after a run of four straight defeats.
But two goals in five minutes by Ross McCrorie saw Bristol City managed to pick up a point, with the Robins even missing a few chances to fully complete their turnaround and win the contest.
News elsewhere filtered through that Millwall’s hopes of taking the spot were dissipated when they lost to Burnley. There was then a nervous wait as the game finished before Blackburn’s match at Sheffield United, but confirmation eventually arrived that Rovers had failed to win away at Chris Wilder’s Blades, allowing for Bristol City to celebrate their play-off position.
Speaking after the game to BBC Radio Bristol, Manning voiced his delight at this players for getting the job done.
He said, “I have no idea how I am feeling, to be honest. Exhausted, stressed, happy, over the moon, proud – what an afternoon.
“We made real hard work of it but I spoke to the lads beforehand and there’s a lot made now about styles and philosophies, and we spoke about us to underpin everything with the culture we have got.”
Manning previously managed MK Dons between August 2021 and December 2022, having been appointed following Russell Martin’s departure. The job was his first as a senior manager in English football and he impressed, taking the Dons to third in League One and narrowly missing out on automatic promotion.
A more difficult second season followed, however, with Manning leaving MK Dons in December 2022 with the team stuck in the relegation zone.
After a spell at Oxford United, Manning moved to Bristol in November 2023, succeeding Nigel Pearson in charge of the Robins.
While the play-offs mark the end of Manning’s first season in Bristol, the campaign was one where Manning has said he very nearly left partway through after personal tragedy.
The 39-year-old was granted a leave of absence from the club in October and missed two games following the death of his young son Theo, who passed away less than a month after being born. The former West Ham and Ipswich coach has said he considered leaving his position in the wake of what happened before deciding to carry on.
In multiple interviews since, Manning has praised Bristol City’s players, management and supporters as well as the wider football world for their support and well-wishes to him and his family.
In an interview with Bristol Live before the Preston game, Manning praised his squad for being people he enjoyed working with.
He said, “It’s been the toughest year of my personal life for sure, hands down. But to the same point, I think probably one of the most rewarding professionally.
“I’ve spoken about it openly, in terms of the decision I nearly made post what happened, when it was the lads, the club and everything that made me come back ultimately.
“I think they’re a terrific group of human beings first and a top group of professionals. That’s probably been the most rewarding thing this year, seeing them come together in a tough time for them but just in terms of how they work every day.”
Former MK Dons boss Graham Alexander saw his Bradford City side win promotion to League One after a late goal in the final game of the season.
Alexander’s Bantams won promotion to the third tier for the first time since 2019 after a dramatic 96th minute winner to beat Fleetwood Town at Valley Parade.
Antoni Sarcevic was the hero for the home side, with a decisive touch enough to send George Lapslie’s shot into the back of Fleetwood’s net and cue major celebrations.
The celebrations included a pitch invasion, which necessitated a 15 minute stoppage while fans were cleared to play out the final stages of the game, and which were duly followed by another pitch invasion followed by further celebrations with the players.
Victory was just enough for Bradford to hold off the challenge of Walsall, who picked up a first win in 14 games by beating Crewe 1-0 and would have taken the final automatic promotion place but for the late Bradford winner.
Walsall will now enter the League 2 play-offs, with the Saddlers facing a two-legged tie against Chesterfield after the Spireites managed to squeak in ahead of Salford to take the final play-off position. AFC Wimbledon and Notts County will square off in the other tie.
The game marked the conclusion of an intriguing race for automatic promotion from League Two, with all of the teams at the top-end dropping points at various stages of the final weeks of the season.
Bradford had failed to win any of their four games before the finale against Fleetwood, and after missing a litany of late chances, it looked like they might come up short only for the late heroics to confirm their place in League One.
Alexander previously managed MK Dons at the start of the 2023/24 season, appointed as a replacement for Mark Jackson after the club’s relegation from League One. He left the Dons after just 16 games in charge, with an 8 match winless run seeing him leave MK Dons in October 2023.
After leaving MK, Alexander would take over as Bradford boss less than a month later. He has won 45 out of 91 games in charge in West Yorkshire.
MK Dons played out a 0-0 draw away at Swindon Town in the final match of the 2024/25 League Two campaign.
A largely forgettable contest at the County Ground where few opportunities to test either goalkeeper were created ultimately brought the full stop on both side’s campaigns.
The draw means that the Dons have picked up three 0-0 draws under recently appointed boss Paul Warne, with only one goal being scored in their opening four contests with him in charge.
A season where MK Dons had been tipped by several pundits to be promotion candidates ultimately failed to meet these expectation, with the Dons finishing the season 19th in League Two. They ended the season ten points clear of the relegation zone and 18 behind the play-offs, with the club now facing a big summer to rebuild the squad to meet Warne’s requirements.
Seeking to build upon their unbeaten start to Warne’s tenue, MK Dons saw an early opportunity as Connor Lemonheigh-Evans had a strike blocked by Swindon captain Ollie Clarke.
Callum Hendry would later see an effort denied by home goalkeeper Connor Ripley, with his header clawed away by the home goalkeeper.
Kane Thompson-Sommers later saw a shot thwarted by Swindon keeper Ripley, while Swindon’s sole chance of note saw Will Wright have an initial free-kick blocked by a wall and a rebound land in the stands.
While the first half saw a minimal amount of opportunities, the second saw even less, with a long-range strike by Swindon’s Danny Butterworth that missed the target the closest either side got to troubling the scorers.
MK Dons had a late penalty appeal after a challenge on second half sub Travis Patterson, but the appeals didn’t go their way.
A noteworthy moment also saw Dean Lewington introduced in stoppage time, making his 917th and final competitive appearance as a player for the Dons a week on from his home farewell against Grimsby.
With no goal forthcoming, it ultimately wrapped up the Dons’ season and meant attention now turns to assembling a squad that can challenge higher up the League Two table next season.
Northampton Town ended the 2024/25 season by conceding a stoppage time equaliser as they drew 1-1 with Wigan Athletic at Sixfields.
Tariqe Fosu’s goal had seemed to put Northampton on course to end their season with victory, only for a 96th minute equaliser by Dale Taylor helping Wigan to swipe a point.
Wigan had Will Aimson sent off in the 12th minute of stoppage time, but there was no time for the Cobblers to try and take advantage of having an extra man, as the points were ultimately shared.
The point means that Northampton end the League One campaign in 19th position on goal difference behind local rivals Peterborough United. They finished five points clear of the relegation zone, having secured survival with a few games of the campaign remaining.
After manager Kevin Nolan’s criticism of their performance in losing 3-0 at League Two-bound Crawley Town last week, Northampton had hoped to rally with a win in their final assignment of the season.
The best opportunity in a low quality first half-hour fell for the Cobblers, as Terry Taylor’s free-kick was diverted towards his own goal by Aimson and had to be denied by Sam Tickle in the Wigan goal.
With 33 minutes on the clock, however, Northampton would find a break-through. Nesta Guiness-Walker’s run from a Wigan corner saw him make it into the Wigan half before releasing Fosu, who cut inside a defender then lashed the ball beyond Tickle’s reach.
Wigan came close when Mitch Pinnock was forced to clear Jason Kerr’s header off the line in the second half, with the away side beginning to create more the longer the game went on.
Ryan Lowe’s side had pressure in the second half, but seemed like they were set to be frustrated in their attempts to break through. That was however until they found an equaliser in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
James Carragher’s cross induced chaos in the penalty area and the ball would eventually land for Taylor to force the ball home to earn Wigan a point.
There was still further late drama when Aimson was sent off for a high foot that caught Northampton’s substitute keeper James Dadge, but there was no time for any more action as the Cobblers’ season ended with no winner in its final game.
Luton Town have been relegated from the Championship after a 5-3 defeat at West Bromwich Albion.
Defeat at the Hawthorns combined with a draw for Hull City at Portsmouth meant Luton suffered back-to-back relegations, having dropped out of the Premier League 12 months ago. The Hatters finished the season on 49 points, level with the Tigers but they were relegated on goal difference.
Victory in the West Midlands would’ve secured Luton survival, but braces by Tom Fellows and Callum Styles along with a Daryl Dike goal instead left the Hatters at the mercy of results elsewhere. Millenic Alli had scored to make it 1-1 early on, but Jordan Clark and Alli’s goals came after West Brom had already bagged their five.
Luton fans were left checking score apps in the hope that Portsmouth could score a late goal to beat Hull City at Fratton Park. But such a goal wouldn’t be scored, leaving Luton in the relegation zone when the musical chairs stopped.
The Hatters will be playing third tier football next season for the first time since 2019, becoming only the third team in the last 15 years to suffer back-to-back drops from Premier League and Championship after Wolves in 2011-13 and Sunderland in 2016-18.
Having won their previous three games before the season finale, Luton were in a tight cluster of teams hoping to avoid following relegated Cardiff and the practically relegated Plymouth. They were a point above Hull going into the game, but level on points with Derby and Preston and a single point behind Stoke.
Against a West Brom side that could no longer reach the play-offs and who had failed to beat either Derby or Cardiff in their last two, Luton had hopes they could pull off the win they needed.
Things got off to a bad start, however, when they trailed after seven minutes. Fellows was able to cut inside after collecting the ball and he duly squeezed a shot beyond Thomas Kaminski.
But Luton trailed for all of two minutes. Alli picked up Thelo Aasgaard’s pass, twisted away from Kyle Bartley and drilled a fine strike into the back of the net.
As the half continued, news filtered through that Hull and Preston had taken the lead in their games, meaning Luton needed a response to preserve their advantage.
Instead, things went in reverse after two goals in three minutes saw West Brom take control of the contest.
First, striker Dike scored his first Championship goal in two injury-hit years when the striker headed in Styles’ cross, before Dike laid the ball off for Fellows to fire past Kaminski. That strike made it 3-1, and left Luton very much at the mercy of results elsewhere.
A little bit of hope resurfaced when Portsmouth equalised in the opening minutes of the second half, which could have spurned Luton on to try and pull the game back to 3-3.
That however would not happen, as two goals by Styles in four minutes saw West Brom seize even further control of the contest.
Styles made it 4-1 when he turned in Darnell Furlong’s cross from close range, and a few moments later, the same man made it 5-1 after his strike deflected in off Aasgaard.
Luton would manage to close the gap down from 5-1 to 5-3 in a chaotic game as first Clark and then Alli scored fine goals, while they came very close to making it 5-4 as substitute Tahith Chong saw a strike saved.
But eyes were very much focused on whether Portsmouth could complete a turnaround and beat Hull at Fratton Park. Had that happened, it would’ve confirmed Luton’s survival by a single point.
A winner for Portsmouth would not come, however, confirming Luton fell into the relegation zone on goal difference and meant the pain of a second relegation in a row was confirmed, with Luton facing the task of rebuilding again in the third tier of English football.
