First there was Luton Town, winning on penalties at Wembley Stadium to complete their odyssey from non-league, fuelled by injustices to end their long exile from the top flight.
Then Sheffield Wednesday at the same venue, promoted in stoppage time with a flying Josh Windass header having trailed by four in the play-off semi-final.
Finally West Ham in Prague, Jarrod Bowen’s winner and the UEFA Conference League, a first trophy for more than 40 years and a right old knees-up in the streets of East London.
Three games inside 12 days in May and June 2023, and to witness them and all that meant to those who cared about those clubs was to stumble towards true meaning at the heart of this silly old game we all adore.
For a briefest time football made perfect sense. Those fleeting moments of shared happiness are powerful forces.
Then off we go again, tangling narratives, confused by the artificial boundaries about what does or does not represent success, and when you are entitled to feel joy and pride in your team and when you’re not.
Manchester United and Tottenham fans have every right to be excited about the Europa League final – trophies are what supporters remember, not finishing above an arbitrary spot in the table
Winning the FA Cup will be better for Man City or Crystal Palace supporters than simply finishing above a random league position
Newcastle’s ecstatic Carabao Cup celebration underlined the joy of winning silverware
Luton have been relegated twice, and I can’t imagine they would trade that day at Wembley for anything in the world. Sheffield Wednesday reside mid-table in the Championship angry about owner Dejphon Chansiri and Windass is out of contract.
His goal did not transform anything, but Wednesdayites will cherish it just as those who went before do John Sheridan’s goal in the League Cup final and Chris Waddle’s free kick in an FA Cup semi.
As for West Ham, well, they have reverted to being West Ham, but there will always be Prague. And that’s something. Everything, perhaps. Those times will endure with stories embellished and passed on through generations.
Talk to former footballers and over time they come to care less about medals and financial rewards than about the bonds of friendship forged through a shared sporting achievement and the laughs along the way. Mates they can meet to reminisce about a time they did something special.
Neil Warnock spoke as he collected a lifetime achievement award at the EFL Awards recently and mentioned how he was looking forward to an upcoming reunion with the Huddersfield team he led to promotion 30 years ago.
Warnock got a laugh when he wondered aloud if Arne Slot and the Liverpool boys would be getting back together for a few beers in 2055.
Supporters ride the same highs and suffer the lows and remember the twists and it’s worth all the trouble when it all comes together.
See Newcastle’s quest for silver and jubilant scenes on Tyneside. Or the energy as Crystal Palace have another crack at claiming their first major trophy. Or those contesting the EFL play-offs.
Luton have been relegated twice in a row, but I’m sure that the fans wouldn’t trade away their day at Wembley in the 2023 Championship play-off final when they beat Coventry on penalties
West Ham will always have their Europa Conference League glory from Prague to look back on
Sheffield Wednesday are merely mid-table in the Championship after their promotion in 2023, but what matters is that they had that moment together from the League One play-off final
Victory might just launch them into another orbit. But it might not. It probably won’t, and that need only matter to those who count the cash and carve up profits.
Money, again. Making the world go around, distorting it, too.
Manchester United and Tottenham contest the Europa League, promising joy to one of them after months of misery and mockery.
For United, it won’t be like winning the Champions League on another Spanish coast in 1999 but what would be? For Chelsea, winning the Conference League in Wroclaw won’t feel much like Munich 2012. For Manchester City another FA Cup might feel like a let-down after a Treble.
Very few are privileged to travel on these elevated curves of achievement.
And yet still better than winning nothing and finishing above an arbitrary line in the Premier League sand drawn by the Swiss rulers of the coefficients to satisfy their own ends.
It’s on its way to becoming an invitational tournament. Top four, top five, top half, so what? Portman Road is plastered with images of the FA Cup win in 1978. They don’t care that they nearly went down that year.
Different times, but Arsene Wenger’s idea that a Champions League place was like a trophy never rang true.
Portman Road is still plastered with images of Ipswich Town’s 1978 FA Cup win, and a statue of victorious manager Bobby Robson stands outside the ground
Ange Postecoglou could deliver Spurs’ first trophy in 41 years – that’s what truly matters
Logical enough because it was worth a fortune and Wenger’s Arsenal were at the time funding a new stadium while trying to keep up with big spenders but catnip for accountants won’t work on fans.
So, to Spurs, for whom the Europa League would be a first trophy for 17 years and a first in Europe for 41, restoring some pride to the first British club to win a European trophy.
Something to cheer at last. Respite from the treadmill for those forced to live through the mood swings of a club with an identity crisis and a chairman they don’t like.
Rubbish league season? They’ll get over it. Ticket to the Champions League? Daniel Levy will be thrilled.
Hands on the trophy trumps all that at this time of year when the prizes are handed out. Sharing the experience with thousands of likeminded people. It’s what keeps us all hooked.
Five things I learned this week
1) PSG won just four of eight group games in the new-fangled Champions League and sizzled into the final. Whether by accident or design they have created the blueprint. Use extra insurance baked into the format to freewheel through the autumn, and pedal hard through the spring jeopardy.
Easier to plan this way of course if you’re the single dominant force in your domestic league.
PSG have blitzed the Champions League after struggling at the start of the league phase
Raheem Sterling’s Arsenal loan was been a bench-bound failure – the MLS beckons for him
2) Arsenal were desperate for goals in Paris and at no point did Mikel Arteta look at the bench and wonder if Raheem Sterling, with his 27 goals and 23 assists in the Champions League, might be the answer. Sterling’s loan move has failed for him and Arteta. At 30, the MLS beckons.
3) For the third game in a row Wolves started without a single English player against Brighton. For 25 minutes of their game against Manchester City there was not an English player on the pitch on either side. We are all becoming immune to this trend.
4) Danny Rohl talks like a man who has quit Sheffield Wednesday, weighing up his options in public. Southampton admire him. Rangers, too. He likes the sound of the Bundesliga. The Premier League is his dream. Still nothing official from Hillsborough, further proof if required why a badly run club are losing a highly rated young coach.
5) Matt Taylor, the former West Ham and Portsmouth player, quit Wealdstone for Solihull Moors in January but returned a favour to his old club on the final day. Solihull fought back to draw with Dagenham and Redbridge, condemning them to relegation. Wealdstone won and survived by a point in the National League.
