With three relegations and two promotions if you count York City's welcome return to the Football League, a Middlesbrough collapse and some spectacular self-harm in Sheffield, it has been a memorable if not a brilliant season for Yorkshire.
With an FA Cup semi-final and Premier League survival, 2025-26 was an excellent for Leeds United, but Harrogate Town dropped out of the 92 with their first relegation for 48 years. In between there was a fair amount of stagnation, and a warning from relegated Rotherham United about where that can lead.
Villain: Dejphon Chansiri. No explanation surely needed.
Manager of the season: Leeds' Daniel Farke and Bradford City's Graham Alexander worked wonders, but there can only be one winner. Picking Jakiroivc after a successful relegation battle in Turkey looked pretty left-field from Hull owner Acun Ilicali but his flexibility, humour and unflustered nature made him an inspired choice.
Player (Premier League): Ethan Ampadu. Gabriel Gudmundsson had an excellent debut season and 15-goal Dominic Calvert-Lewin's was none too shabby, but in the No 4 shirt once worn by Leeds’ greatest captain, the unfussy Ampadu set consistently high standards on and off the pitch.
Player (Championship): Hayden Hackney. Sadly, Middlesbrough's Championship play-off final, with their talisman only fit enough for the bench, could be his swansong.
Player (League One): Owen Bailey. Doncaster Rovers' best centre-back, best holding midfielder and best goalscoring midfielder (16 goals this season) as well as being a pretty good right-back.
TASTING THE BIG TIME: Ryan Giles celebrates Hull City's promotion with supporters at Wembley (Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)placeholder image
TASTING THE BIG TIME: Ryan Giles celebrates Hull City's promotion with supporters at Wembley (Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Player (League Two): Jack Evans. Stepped up to fill the void left by the retired, then unretired, Josh Falkingham as a Harrogate midfielder and captain.
Young player: Jenson Metcalfe. Braford built a team around experience, but the vitality of midfielder Metcalfe added an all-important extra dimension. Three home-grown players also deserve mentions – Sheffield United's Andre Brooks and Barnsley’s Jonathan Bland and Vimal Yoganathan.
Old player: David McGoldrick. Davis Keillor-Dunn leaving Barnsley mid-season was inevitable, but with only free transfer Tom Bradbury signed in his place, it left huge boots to fill. Thirteen of McGoldrick’s 18 goals last season came after mid-January, by which time he was 38.
Signing: Oli McBurnie. Available on a free transfer and keen to rejoin Sheffield United, Hull got in early and when the Leeds-born striker opted for them, his commitment was total. Asked by Ilicali to get him 15 goals, and despite having two months out injured, he scored 19, including the strike which took the Tigers into the Premier League. World Cup squads are picked on more than just ability, but Steve Clarke feels like he is cutting his nose off to spite his face by not including McBurnie in Scotland's. Other strong contenders were Calvert-Lewin of Leeds and Josh Neufville of Bradford. What do all three have in common? All cost nowt (at least in transfer fees).
FAN POWER: Sheffield Wednesday supporters hastened the demise of Dejphon Chansiri (Image: James Fearn/Getty Images)placeholder image
FAN POWER: Sheffield Wednesday supporters hastened the demise of Dejphon Chansiri (Image: James Fearn/Getty Images)
Exile: Roberto De Zerbi did not seem to be a big fan, but the then-still teenage Archie Gray stood up to be counted when few Tottenham Hotspur players did in the tough winter months.
Goal: Reyes Cleary from well inside his own half, for Barnsley at Bradford in League One.
Fans: Sheffield Wednesday. Middlesbrough fans selling 36,000 Wembley tickets in 48 post-Spygate hours was pretty special, and Scarborough Athletic's Dutch Seadogs were important in a season of financial struggle, but the Owls supporters were in a league of their own. Amazing away from home, they kept the club afloat with post-administration spending and recorded the biggest gate of the Championship season to watch an already-relegated side reach zero points with a first Hillsborough win since Easter 2025.
TURNING POINT: Dominic Calvert-Lewin in Leeds United's season-defining defeat at Manchester City (Image: Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
TURNING POINT: Dominic Calvert-Lewin in Leeds United's season-defining defeat at Manchester City (Image: Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)
Worst board: Sheffield United. No contest. Taking a team with 90 points beaten narrowly in the Championship play-off final, sacking the manager, replacing him with Ruben Selles, breaking up the team and bringing in data-led signings but not McBurnie in the last year of parachute payments was world-class ineptitude.
Best defeat: Leeds losing 3-2 at Manchester City turned their season out of a sticky spell. Two-nil down at half-time they switched from a back four to a three and got the scores level. Phil Foden scored a stoppage-time winner but a way forward had been found.
Overdue decision: Rotherham appoint a "head of football". After years kicking the can down the road and two relegations in three seasons, the Millers can finally address their infrastructure issues under Steve McClaren.
Gripe: Hull, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Harrogate and Sheffield Wednesday in particular suffered crippling injuries this season. When are the people who run the game finally going to realise they are asking too much?
Sad it didn't work out: Both appointed in the spring of 2025, it was sad Conor Hourihane (Barnsley) and Matt Hamshaw (Rotherham) could not get to the end of debut seasons as head coaches, both in charge of clubs they loved.
STILL GOT IT: Barnsley's David McGoldrick was immense for Barnsley (Image: Jonathan Gawthorpe)placeholder image
STILL GOT IT: Barnsley's David McGoldrick was immense for Barnsley (Image: Jonathan Gawthorpe)
The transfer window we could have done without: January. Leeds only got Facundo Buonanotte, Barnsley lost Keillor-Dunn, Middlesbrough failed to get the goalscorer they needed, Bradford lost some fan favourites and Kayden Jackson apart made signings that did not come off and Harrogate actually got better but not enough to stay up.
"They never learn" award: For the second time in three years, Huddersfield sacked a manager very late in the transfer window – Lee Grant this time – and yet again it did not work.
Lucky escape: Sheffield Wednesday. The year started with James Bord, the numbers guy behind their neighbours' demise, ready to buy the Owls in a deal worth £47m.
Don't leave early:York City. Champions tend to specialise in late goals and the Minstermen were no exception. It was pleasing that Rochdale, who thought they had won the Conference title-decider with a stoppage-time goal, have been promoted alongside them.
Press conference of the year: Jakirovic at Bramall Lane. After a defeat which saw John Lundstram controversially sent off he was quoting Britney Spears and said communicating with fourth officials was like talking to the wall of the Sheffield United press room.