After a season of success, failure and a sense of what might have been in the North-East, The Northern Echo reviews the campaign for our five professional clubs.
MIDDLESBROUGH
IT may not mean silverware or even European qualification, but three points against Fulham tomorrow would offer a glimmer of hope to Gareth Southgate ahead of next season.
Should Boro end the campaign with the tenth home win of the campaign, the points tally will have surpassed the total conjured up by Steve McClaren in his final year in charge.
Southgate's first 12 months, whether he likes it or not, was always going to draw comparisons with his predecessor and there have been too many similarities.
Ending the campaign on just 46 points - just one ahead of McClaren's crop 12 months ago - highlights that a change at the top has not had an immediate impact and signified instant exciting change.
Southgate, in fairness, never expected it to. He has regularly spoken of it being a transitional season.
Provided he is allowed the freedom to make decent signings in the summer, the signs of the progress he is striving for will need to be evident come 2008.
The permanent acquisition of Jonathan Woodgate, after his successful loan spell from Real Madrid, is a major fillip for the Riverside. Retaining the services of Mark Viduka would be a similar coup.
But it is beyond those two that Southgate's judgement will be tested. Only Julio Arca of his signings so far have proved to be worthwhile and the past nine months have shown he is no nearer to finding new faces down the right-hand side.
Good results against the Premiership's top four highlighted Middlesbrough's potential. But defeats to the likes of Sheffield United and Manchester City reaffirmed the belief that work still needs to be done.
A failure to overcome Fulham at the Riverside will leave Middlesbrough some seven points shy of the top ten, having lost six times on home soil already.
Although a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup offered a ray of light, there is little to celebrate from a season that had the threat of relegation hanging over the club until last week's trip to Wigan.
All that is without mentioning the humiliating Carling Cup exit to Notts County in September. Next season has to be better.
Hit of the season:
Emanuel Pogatetz. It's just a shame the Austrian's ability at centre-back was not unearthed earlier. It could have saved the club the £6m they paid for Robert Huth.
Miss of the season:
Fabio Rochemback. Has still not been able to establish himself in the Boro team and will be sold this summer if the opportunity arises.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Should Allardyce step in Pearson faces an uncertain future, knowing the former Bolton man is likely to draft in his own backroom staff, with Carlisle's Neil McDonald and Hull's Phil Brown two names being mentioned.
Pearson, though, remains unfazed. "There's always going to be speculation. That's out of our control and the most important thing is that we concentrate on what we can effect - the game at Watford," said the former Middlesbrough captain.
"Outside of that, there's no point me sitting here and talking about the speculation. Until something happens, there's no mileage in that.
"There will be time to reflect when the season is over. There's a possibility there will be some movement next week. But that is only a possibility. I'm not sure of any time-frame. We have to make sure things run as smoothly as possible in this transitional period and that is never an easy task."
In September Pearson had to take on a similar position when he was asked to fill in temporarily when Bryan Robson was axed at West Brom.
This week has been another unwanted experience. "It's an unfortunate circumstance," said Pearson, who will be on the Under-21s coaching staff for the European Championships this summer. "I'm a professional person and will do the job to the best of my abilities. But I would rather it was not this way. I just have to deal with it.
"We have a fixture to fulfil and people will expect us to put on a good performance, like every week. That's important. The players and staff alike have to be professional and do the job to the best of our ability. That's how it will be."
SUNDERLAND
ON January 1 Sunderland travelled to Leicester two days after a home defeat to Preston North End.
They were languishing in 12th, 16 points behind leaders Birmingham City and ten behind Paul Simpson's Preston who went on to complete a treble over the Black Cats with a 1-0 FA Cup win.
The match at the Walkers Stadium was far from outstanding with Roy Keane's side completing a routine win with two late goals.
No-one realised the significance of that result at the time, but it triggered one of the most successful runs in the history of Sunderland Football Club.
They lost just once more in the league picking up 51 points from a possible 60, turned a 16-point deficit into a two-point advantage over Steve Bruce's side and gained promotion with a week to spare.
The home league defeat against Preston was seen as pivotal in Sunderland's campaign because to many it signalled the end of any ideas of automatic promotion.
Keane realised to have any chance of even making the play-offs he had to strengthen his squad and three additions during the January window were crucial to Sunderland's run to the title.
The positions he highlighted as problem areas were right and left-back, central defence and the right of midfield.
The loan signings of Manchester United defenders Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson gave some much-needed stability to the back four freeing Dean Whitehead to return to central midfield and stopping Stanislav Varga giving the Black Cats' fans panic attacks every time he tried to play football.
He failed to find his left-back but centre-back Danny Collins made the position his own and the capture of Carlos Edwards from Luton Town for just £1.4m could prove one of the best buys Keane will ever make as manager.
Wonder goals against Birmingham, Southampton and Burnley have shown just how good a finisher the Trinidad and Tobago international is, with his strike against the Clarets securing promotion.
After the appalling start, under Niall Quinn's thankfully brief tenure as manager, Keane set about instilling a belief in his players that they would win every match. His task took a shorter time than even he expected.
Hit of the season:
Nyron Nosworthy was the fans choice but our vote goes to Carlos Edwards for the sheer excitement he generates whenever in possession
Miss of the season:
Arnau Riera. Two substitute appearances and lasted just three minutes of his one start against Bury before being sent-off - a disaster on a par with Milton Nunez.
HARTLEPOOL UNITED
THERE'S only one question to mull over when it comes to debating Hartlepool United's season -was it the club's best ever?
With club records tumbling, it's hard not to conclude it was.
If Pools had beaten Bristol Rovers seven days ago to win the League Two title, there would be no doubt.
Instead a sense of what might have been lingers. But if finishing second is a failure, then there are 22 other teams in the bottom division who would love to be failures.
The numbness of Victoria Park at 5pm last Saturday was replaced by euphoria and celebration during Sunday's Civic reception and parade, followed by the player-of-the-year presentation on Tuesday.
Such scenes seemed a long way away at the start of the season, as Pools took their time to get over the horrors of last term's relegation, as they slumped as low as 21st after six games.
But once the hangover disappeared, it was time to get the champagne out.
The turning point was the win at Accrington on November 18. From being one-down at a ground more akin to the Northern League than the Football League, Eifion Williams and Ritchie Humpreys spectacularly won the game in the closing stages and Pools never looked back.
They won their next eight games without conceding a goal - setting a Football League record - and remained unbeaten for 23, winning an unprecedented 19 games to take 63 points from 69, a run which took Danny Wilson's side into top spot.
Wilson's signings all helped take Pools to a new level. Willie Boland, Andy Monkhouse and Ritchie Barker were all key players, but the capture of an untried teenager from Middlesbrough proved a masterstroke.
Gary Liddle had not played first-team football before signing for Pools but took to it with such ease he walked away with two club awards at the end of the season.
Some of his performances in central midfield were way above League Two and there's no reason why he - and his side - won't shine in League One next season.
Hit of the season:
James Brown. His form during the run after being given a chance on the right wing showed just why he has been so well thought of at Pools. Chipped in with some key goals and mesmerised many full-backs.
MISS of the season:
Darren Williams. His two-year stay at Victoria Park was ended this week when he was released, after never showing the sort of form which made him a Premiership regular at Sunderland.
DARLINGTON
As in the previous two seasons, hopes were high of a long-awaited promotion, but ultimately Darlington missed out narrowly again - and this year was the biggest disappointment of them all.
Ahead of his first full season as chairman, a year ago George Houghton made it clear promotion was the aim and, with Quakers ninth in the table, he demonstrated that ambition by sacking manager David Hodgson after just 12 games.
In the summer he had allowed Hodgson to sign a flurry of players from the division above, including Patrick Collins, Darren Holloway, Craig James, Micky Cummins, Martin Smith and Barry Conlon, as well as foreigners Kalu Ngoma and Gaetano Giallanza.
That the first two games produced two wins and six goals confirmed pre-season optimism.
But the failure to convince Shelton Martis to stay proved a big mistake as the defence proved a problem area all season.
In the first match after his transfer to Hibernian, Quakers conceded four goals to Boston United and would go on to concede five against both Rochdale and Stockport (twice).
Julian Joachim was Quakers' chief tormentor for Boston so, using the 'if you can't beat them, buy them' adage, Darlington splashed out a club record £100,000 to bring him to the region.
But he scored just seven times in 36 appearances, with his first strike under Hodgson's replacement, Dave Penney, coming towards the end of an eight-game losing run which included the virus-hit Christmas period.
Soon afterwards, and frustrated by what he believed to be a sub-standard squad, Penney brought in several loan defenders, including David Wheater, Ian Miller and Evan Horwood, and they provided the platform for a 13-game unbeaten run.
But Hartlepool United brought the revival to a shuddering halt in March, after which the season petered out with Penney having one eye on next season.
Quakers used a club record 41 different players but, with quality defenders a must, Penney aims to build his own squad with promotion clearly the aim.
Hit of the season:
Clark Keltie. Not always valued by some fans but, unlike many of his team-mates, played to a consistent level throughout the season.
Miss of the season:
Julian Joachim. Arrived with a big price tag and high expectations but seven league goals in 36 games was a disappointing return.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article