Birmingham City and Sunderland won promotion back to the Premiership this Sunday after Derby lost away to Crystal Palace.
Billy Davies' men went down 2-0 at Selhurst Park, goals from Mark Kennedy and ex-Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison sealing the Rams fate.
Birmingham and Sunderland had done their bit, winning against Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley to put them first and second respectively.
Birmingham's return to the big time at the first time of asking says a lot for the faith shown in manager Steve Bruce by chairman David Gold, who came out to say "there have been some dark days but Steve has been outstanding",
"It was a terrible time getting relegated and you had the situation a few months back where people were looking to see Steve Bruce go from the club,"
But Gold kept faith in Bruce and he feels he has been vindicated in doing so.
A special bond between Chairman and Manager could also be said to have been the key to success at the Stadium of Light, chairman Niall Quinn was the manager at the start of the season who saw his side lose their first five after finding themselves bottom, plumped for ex-Ireland team-mate Roy Keane in October and its the former Manchester United captain who has driven the Black Cats resurgence.
But Keane didn't seem too bothered by proceedings at Selhurst Park, he only found out about the clubs promotion by text while walking his dog.
Next up for Birmingham is a trip to play-off hopefuls Preston with it all to play for, while Sunderland visit already-relegated Luton next Sunday. No doubt both managers will be determined to follow up today's news with the title this time next week.
TOP SIX BAGGIE THE AWARDS
Title rivals West Brom and Sunderland dominated the PFA Championship team of the year this season with five players between them.
The annual Professional Footballers Association - PFA - awards took place at the Grosvenor Hotel this Sunday and it was unsurprisingly those at the top who dominated the team (below).
Of the eleven men, nine came from sides in the top six and the other positions were all occupied by players from teams in the top half.
The award ceremony is held in very high esteem as being a part of the team shows a widespread appreciation from footballing peers.
The youngest member of the team was Southampton's Welsh international left-back Gareth Bale who, at 17 is the youngest player to appear in a team of the year at this level. Derby's Darren Moore (right) was the eldest member. Preston's Graham Alexander made it fourth time lucky, having appeared in the team three times previously whilst being at Deepdale.
Like all years, there were some surprise omissions, an example of this could be Colchester's Jamie Cureton, who currently finds himself at the top of the goal scoring charts and many tipped for him to be there of thereabouts in the team when announced.
Many commentators on the game have called for the PFA awards to be postponed in future years until the end of the season in order for players to have a whole season to judge opponents. A call which echoes many similar statements in the past.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
Matt Murray - Wolves
Graham Alexander - Preston
Gareth Bale - Southampton
Darren Moore - Derby County
Curtis Davies - West Brom
Jason Koumas - West Brom
Carlos Edwards - Sunderland
Dean Whitehead - Sunderland
Diomansy Kamara - West Brom
Michael Chopra - Cardiff
Gary McSheffrey - Birmingham
LEAGUE TABLE AS IT STANDS
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