The English football season came to a close on 24 May as the final round of matches were played in the Premier League. In what has been a true rollercoaster of a year, there was drama right to the very end.

The Premier League’s final day

The last relegation place was still to be decided, with both Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United in danger of the drop. After a dire season for Spurs, they needed to avoid defeat against Everton to guarantee their safety. West Ham fans were hoping for a win against Leeds United and for Spurs to get no points in their encounter.

At West Ham’s London Stadium, it took until the second half for either side to make a breakthrough – but it was January signing Taty Castellanos who caused liftoff for the Hammers by scoring from Jarrod Bowen’s corner in the 66th minute. Bowen quickly got a goal of his own from Mateus Fernandes’ incisive through ball, before veteran striker Callum Wilson netted a deflected strike from distance in the 94th minute to wrap up a confident victory against a Leeds side that has exceeded expectations this season. The Hammers had done everything they could – all eyes turned to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Home ‘advantage’ didn’t mean much to a Spurs side that had won just two Premier League games in front of their own fans all season. However, in the 43rd minute, Tottenham midfielder Joao Palhinha headed the ball against the post, then scrambled the rebound across the line to give Spurs the lead. It was, truth be told, not a strong performance from either side. Everton did, though, come close to bagging an equaliser through substitute Tyrique George’s fierce curling shot, but Spurs keeper Antonin Kinsky made a good save to continue his great late-season form. Tottenham clung on until the final whistle, keeping their Premier League status at West Ham’s expense. This marks the end of a disappointing campaign for West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo, but he will stay on as manager in the second tier. Spurs manager Roberto De Zerbi has meanwhile hinted at extensive spending in the upcoming transfer market, as he considers just “10, 11, 12 players good enough to stay.”

Arsenal had already secured the title after Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on 19 May left them unable to catch the North London side. Arsenal lifted the trophy following a 2-1 away win over Crystal Palace with a largely second-string side, with manager Mikel Arteta keeping one eye on the upcoming Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain. It’s a relief for Arsenal fans, who had watched their team finish runners-up for the previous three seasons – and by just two points in 2023/4. Should Arteta’s men now go on to win the Champions League, it will be the first time that Arsenal have done the league and European double, a feat that only Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have accomplished. City, who finished runners-up, will have to cope with life without legendary manager Pep Guardiola, who is leaving after a decade at the club.

Elsewhere, a dream return to the Premier League for Sunderland was capped by a 2-1 win at home against Chelsea. This secured seventh spot in the table and the opportunity to play European football next season in the Europa League, whilst denying Chelsea’s hopes of doing the same. Joining them will be Crystal Palace, whose 1-0 victory over Spanish outfit Rayo Vallecano in the Europa Conference League final on 27 May has qualified them for a Europa League spot. This season’s Europa League was won 3-0 by Aston Villa against Freiburg on 20 May, meaning that a sweep of European trophies by English clubs is on the cards.

Despite a 0-3 loss to Manchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion finished in eighth and will take a spot in the Europa Conference League.

Spygate

But we can’t let the Premier League have all the fun. To many, the Championship, England’s second tier, is all the more entertaining, and this season has been no exception. The climax of the season is the playoffs, where the teams placing third to sixth (to be expanded down to eighth next season) enter a knockout competition for a place in the Premier League, worth around £200 million. 

This season, Southampton underwent a rapid turnaround in their fortunes. They won just twice in their opening 13 games, but went unbeaten in their last 19 matches. The much-improved form, inspired by the hiring of new manager Tonda Eckert in November, propelled them into the playoffs, where they were to face Middlesbrough. But on May 7, two days before the first leg, an unknown figure was spotted hiding behind a tree, using a smartphone to take videos of the Middlesbrough team’s training session. He fled, but was later identified as William Salt, an intern working as an analyst for Southampton. 

Spying on opponents’ training sessions has long been considered ‘against the spirit of the game,’ but no rule existed to formally prevent it until recently. In January 2019, Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa admitted that he had sent staff members to spy on all their opponents to that point in the season, after a suspicious man was apprehended outside Derby County’s training ground equipped with binoculars and pliers. As spying was not explicitly banned, Leeds could receive only a fine for breaking the requirement to “behave towards each other club and the league with the utmost good faith.” The EFL, the Championship’s governing body, subsequently updated its regulations to specifically ban spying.

Now that the rule existed, Southampton could expect a bigger punishment. The games proceeded as normal whilst the EFL’s investigation went ahead in the background. Though the first leg finished 0-0, Southampton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 after extra time in the second on 12 May to book their place in the final. Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis was pictured celebrating Shea Charles’ late goal by pretending to wield a pair of binoculars.

However, on 19 May, the EFL announced that, as Southampton had admitted to multiple cases of spying, including against Middlesbrough, the club would be expelled from the playoffs and deducted four points for next season. Boro had continued training to prepare for this eventuality, but the other finalists, Hull City, were left scrambling to prepare for an unexpected change in opponents. 

In the end, it was Hull City that scraped a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at Wembley to claim an unexpected promotion. However, debate will persist over whether Southampton’s expulsion was justified, and whether other clubs should feel aggrieved, too. Wrexham finished two points off the playoff spots, and fans may question if the playoffs should have been restarted altogether, with Wrexham in Southampton’s place.

The future of Tonda Eckert remains unclear, but head coach of the Canadian women’s national football team Bev Priestman and two other members of staff were banned from football for a year by FIFA after they were found to have spied on New Zealand before an Olympic match in 2024.

Hearts Broken

The Scottish football season finished on 16 May. Edinburgh side Heart of Midlothian had led the league for 250 days, as Scotland’s usual two heavyweights, Glasgow sides Celtic and Rangers, had endured rocky campaigns by their own lofty standards. Rangers started the season under manager Russell Martin, but he could only lead the side to one win in their opening seven league matches before being sacked in October. Celtic, meanwhile, curiously appointed Wilfried Nancy in December. Nancy had only ever managed in America, and his tactics did not seem fit for the Scottish game, as he drew criticism for starting matches with only one recognised central defender. This left Celtic exposed at the back, and Nancy lasted just 33 days, during which time he won twice in eight games.

As such the path was clear for unexpected contenders Hearts, who had last won the league in 1960. They were propelled by star striker Lawrence Shankland, who netted 13 goals in 24 league games. But with the reappointment of Martin O’Neill as manager after Nancy’s departure, Celtic consistently churned out the sort of results we expect of them, and clawed the gap to Hearts to just one point by the last day of the season. And on that day, they were due to play none other than Hearts. Win, and they would pip Hearts to the post at the very last.

Hearts struck first, when the irrepressible Shankland popped up with a goal again in the 43rd minute, heading home at the back post off a corner. Celtic replied instantly though, after defender Alexandros Kyziridis conceded an unfortunate penalty for handling Kieran Tierney’s cross into the area at close range. But a draw was still good enough for Hearts.

The objective for Hearts in the second half was simply not to concede again. And for 87 minutes, they held out, until Celtic’s Daizen Maeda tapped home from close range after a great low cross from Callum Osmand. For the first time in 250 days, Celtic were on top of the table with just minutes remaining. Hearts went all out to claw a goal back, but could only concede again from an Osmand counterattack. Hearts’ fairytale was simply too good to be true. 

Thankfully, the football doesn’t stop here. After the Champions League final on 30 May, there’ll be a break of less than two weeks before the World Cup starts on 11 June, for which the squads are already being announced. If it provides just a fraction of the entertainment of the domestic seasons, it will be a spectacle.