English bank holidays are associated with many things, including drizzly BBQs, an excess of alcohol and snarled up motorways – those last two hopefully being unrelated. But various bank holidays throughout the year also have links to significant sporting events. The World Snooker Championship typically concludes on May Day, whilst there are also traditional football fixtures on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, with Easter also being a highlight for the beautiful game.
However, come the end of May, we have another day off to enjoy, and the spring bank holiday is of major importance to fans of clubs in the EFL. The three play-off finals take place on the Saturday, Sunday, and bank holiday Monday of this government-sanctioned mini-break and that means huge excitement for supporters of the six clubs involved, as well as plenty of neutrals.
Richest Game in Football Gets the Party Started
The highest-profile play-off final is that of the Championship, with a place in the Premier League the glittering prize. Making it to the top tier of English football brings huge honour, pride and prestige to fans, players and the club in general. It also brings bags and bags of money.
It is believed the game will be worth well over £200m to the winner, with many sources settling on the rather tidy sum of £220m. The fans don’t really care about the money but the huge financial boost is necessary if their side is to have any hope of competing in the top flight, so really, the glory and money are intertwined.
Sunderland and Sheffield United fans will desperately be dreaming of trips to the Etihad and the Emirates, Anfield and Old Trafford next season. But they, and all those connected with the clubs, will also be acutely aware that the three promoted teams have been instantly relegated in each of the last two campaigns.
Typically, and understandably, it is often, though certainly not always, the team that earns promotion through the play-offs that struggles the most against the richer, bigger and more established clubs of the Premier League. But for now the Blades and the Black Cats will be focused on the dream, not the harsh reality that awaits when they wake up.
Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United finished third in the Championship despite being in the top two for a large chunk of the campaign. They seemed set for automatic promotion but a run of four defeats in five games during the run-in put paid to that as Leeds and Burnley surged past them. Even so, they finished 14 points ahead of Sunderland and so start as clear favourites in the final.
They will also be boosted by their performances in the play-offs thus far, as they absolutely waltzed through their semi. They beat Bristol City 3-0 both home and away and the bookies make them 8/11 to secure an instant return to the PL, compared to the Black Cats who are out at 5/4.
That might not seem like a huge odds difference but it means the bookies give Wilder’s troops around about a 58% chance of returning to the top flight. In contrast, odds of 5/4 imply a 44% chance (the combined percentages are greater than 100 due to the bookies’ margin). Sunderland will fancy their chances in a one-off game, but they were perhaps fortunate to scrape past Coventry in their semi and only very narrowly avoided penalties.
Sunderland briefly looked capable of challenging the top three for the two automatic places but slipped away. They were, however, clearly the best of the rest, and finished seven points above Coventry, despite the strong run the Sky Blues enjoyed towards the end of the campaign.
The final kicks off at 3pm on Saturday the 24th of May and it could be a real thriller. The last time they faced each other was on New Year’s Day, when Sunderland won 2-1 on home soil. Before that, the Blades had won 1-0 in Sheffield at the end of November, so there clearly isn’t all that much between them and it could certainly go either way at Wembley.
Charlton and Leyton Orient Clash in League 1 Decider
Just under 24 hours after the £220m game, Charlton and Leyton Orient will make the much shorter journeys to Wembley for the League 1 play-off final. Kick-off is at 1 pm on Sunday the 25th of May and we should see a similarly even game.
Charlton finished fourth, on 85 points, whilst their opponents were down in sixth, on 78. The odds reflect that, with Nathan Jones’ Athletic 8/13 to earn promotion to the Championship and Orient out at 7/5. Charlton are the bigger side, having played in the PL before, whereas their opponents have spent just one season in the top flight in their whole history, and were down in the National League as recently as 2019.
These two east London teams are separated by just eight or nine miles, so there is a little extra spice involved. Charlton beat Leyton Orient 2-1 away in March, lost 2-0 at home in December in the EFL Trophy, and won 1-0 at home way back in August, and so have the edge in terms of the head-to-head record.
Jones’ side saw off Wycombe in the play-offs, a side that had been set for automatic promotion for much of the campaign but lost their final three games. As for The O’s, they needed penalties to beat Stockport, both games ending in a draw. That was an impressive outcome for the Londoners, with County having finished nine points and three places above them in the normal season.
Wimbledon and Walsall Finish Things Off
This three-day football feast, which brings the curtain down on the domestic season, ends on bank holiday Monday with Wimbledon and Walsall battling it out in the League 2 final. Wembley does the honours once again and the match will start at 3 pm, with the Midlands outfit having finished fourth, four points, but just one place, better off than the Dons.
This is the only one of the three games where the side that finished higher in the table is not preferred by the oddsmakers. Wimbledon are odds on, at 10/11, with Walsall 6/5, indicating that this could be the closest of the three finals. The teams drew 1-1 at Walsall, whilst the away side won the first meeting between the two 1-0 in November. Will we see the Walsall that was flying high for so long and has now won three in a row, or the team that prior to the final game of the season that went 13 games without a win?