Norwich City and Leeds United, the teams more used to mingle with the elite in the top echelons of the English game, have just made another step forward to bring back the glory days after winning promotion from League One.
Norwich, the League One champions, have been out of the Premier League for the last five seasons while runners-up Leeds fell down the spiral of the game's structure since 2003-04, when a season before they were playing in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Since succeeding Bryan Gunn in August, Paul Lambert's Norwich won the title by nine points, losing only nine matches during the Scot's tenure.
In an attempt to bring to an end the club's three-year stay in League One, Simon Grayson, the Leeds manager, vowed to make the Championship with the sole intention of winning a second straight promotion at the first attempt.
The League Two champions were Notts County. They had a magnificent campaign even if they lost director of sport Sven-Goran Eriksson.
The Magpies finished with a ten-point advantage over runners-up Bournemouth.
The other club to gain an automatic promotion to League One were Rochdale.
Notts County spent six seasons in the lowest division.
In League One, Southampton, who failed to reach the play-offs zone, lifted the JP Trophy, beating Carlisle 4-1 at Wembley.
After 99 years of League Football, Grimsby Town, who in 1997 played in the second grade of the game, have found themselves out of the top football structure.
Darlington have also been relegated to the Conference. The Quakers faced the same music in 1989-90.
April review
• In the quarter-final first legs of the Europa League, Liverpool lose 1-2 in Benfica and Fulham topple Wolfsburg 2-1 at Craven Cottage.
• Newcastle United return to the Premier League after one season following the 2-1 home victory over Sheffield United.
• Both English representatives, Arsenal and Manchester United, are eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League − Arsenal go down heavily 1-4 (3-6 aggregate) in Barcelona, while United win 3-2 at home against Bayern Munich for a 4-4 aggregate, but bow out on the away goals' rule.
• Yet, in the newly-launched Europa League England still had two representatives in the last eight. Liverpool topple Benfica 4-1 (6-3) at Anfield and Fulham win 1-0 (3-1) away in Wolfsburg.
• At Wembley Chelsea beat Aston Villa 2-1 and Portsmouth defeat Tottenham 2-0 after extra time to reach the final of the FA Cup.
• On this same day, Portsmouth become the first club to be relegated from the Premier League after results from other matches do not go their way.
• Ross County continue to create history, beating Celtic 2-0 at Hampden Park to reach the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time. Ross County will meet Dundee United in the ultimate showdown.
• The March monthly awards are won by Everton's manager David Moyes and Chelsea's player Florent Malouda.
• Newcastle are crowned title winners of The Championship with a 2-0 win at Plymouth.
• Rangers duo Walter Smith and David Weir win the Scottish Premier League Manager and Player of the Year, respectively.
• Manchester United have been valued as the biggest club in the world.
• In the first leg semi-finals of the Europa League, Fulham draw 0-0 in Hamburg and Liverpool go down 0-1 in Madrid against Atletico.
• Rangers retain the Scottish Premier League title.
• The PFA awards are picked by Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) Player of the Year and James Milner (Aston Villa) as Young Player.
• Rooney also grabs the Football Writers yearly prize.
• For the first time in their history, Fulham reach the final of a European competition, defeating Hamburg 2-1 on aggregate in the Europa League. Liverpool are eliminated on the away goals' rule (2-2) by Spain's Atletico Madrid.