Wigan throw it away as Preston capture the title, by Mark Barr

The long-term significance
This was the season that revived two traditional Lancashire clubs. Preston returned to the second level after a nineteen year absence, while runners-up Burnley had spent only two years outside the lower divisions during the same period. Both clubs have remained in the Championship, with Preston qualifying for the playoffs twice. This season Burnley’s victories over Chelsea and Arsenal have take them to their first major cup semi final since 1982-83.

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Dear WSC
In response to Huw Griffiths’s letter in WSC 263, I would like to apologise to David Lloyd, the extremely popular fans’ liaison officer at Bristol City, for the flippant remarks I made in an article about the club in WSC 262. Sorry, Mr Lloyd. I would also like to apologise to my father, a Bristol City supporter for 60 years and, like Messrs Griffiths and Lloyd, an avid admirer of Paul Cheesley, for implying in the article that he cross-dresses in his potting shed. To put the record straight: my father has never owned a potting shed. Sorry, Father.However, I would like to take issue with Mr Griffiths’s claim that I have given up neither time nor money to support and represent the club in the last 15 years. In 2002, I bought and paid for the previous season’s away shirt and gave it to a friend of mine for his 40th birthday. Until unwrapping the gift, the recipient was like an excited schoolboy and cherishes it to such a degree that he has, to this day, neither worn the garment nor, as far as I know, taken it out of the ­packaging. Further, in 2007, I attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to obliterate a Bristol Rovers graffito on the lavatory wall in a public house in Berlin using nothing more than my house keys and a briefly rediscovered passion for the Boys In Red. If Mr Griffiths were aware of the willingness of Bristol City stayaways in Germany to jeopardise long-term friendships and to commit acts of criminal damage in the name of the club, he wouldn’t have made such an unfounded accusation in a poor attempt to add some much-needed gravitas to the WSC letters page.
Matt Nation, Hamburg

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Black Africa produces many great players, but the powerbase of club football in the continent lies elsewhere, says James Copnall

The coach, of a sub-Saharan African team expected to challenge for the African Champions League title most years, was getting more and more depressed. He kept pausing the tape of his side’s last meeting with the reigning African champions, Al Ahly, then rewinding it to revel in his misery once more. “See that? See that Egyptian right-back?” he said, almost angry. “Look at the way he gets that cross past his man under heavy pressure, and it lands right on the attacker’s head. I love my boys, but I don’t think many of them could do that – let alone my right-back!” The game – like so many of late – ended in an Al Ahly victory. Coaches all over black Africa are getting used to losing to the Egyptians – and to north African sides in general.

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Down with el presidente! Revolution has come to Newell's Old Boys, in Che Guevara's home town. Joel Richards reports

The city of Rosario’s most famous son would have been proud. The 14-year “dictatorship” of Eduardo López at Newell’s Old Boys came to an end in December. “At last,” bellowed opposition leader Guillermo Lorente upon hearing the news, “Newell’s belongs to its fans.” Che Guevara was a Rosario Central supporter, but he would not have begrudged fans of the rival team this victory.

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Australia have thrown their hat into the ring to host the 2018 World Cup. Matthew Hall watches the bid process unfold

As 2008 eased into 2009, Frank Lowy’s luxury yacht nudged a course through the Caribbean toward Trinidad & Tobago. Lowy is the 78-year-old chairman of Football Federation Australia and probably the richest man in the country, mainly due to his vast Westfield shopping-centre empire, which reaches across the United States, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. But while Lowy no doubt enjoyed the Caribbean New Year sun, he had another reason for visiting the West Indies. After all, there are worse place to be in December than at home at his Sydney harbourside mansion in summer.

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