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Nine months of dreams, disappointment, hope and joy will draw to a close this weekend with .*

Each team has played 4,050 minutes of football over 45 games - and for many all their hard work, endeavour, desire and commitment boils down to one gut-wrenching afternoon.

In short, what will unfold this weekend is the drama of the final day of the season. Or, as a mate of mine put it, we are about to go split-screen.

Over the course of this season I have visited grounds that ought to host Premier League football and others that felt more like a homely social club.

For me, this is a central part of the beauty of the Football League, the fact that its 72 clubs take us across a rich and varied footballing spectrum. Rich and poor often exist cheek by jowl (they certainly will in League One next season) and, refreshingly, the wealthy don't always end up drinking the end-of-season champagne.

What I have discovered over the last nine months is that all are united by their incredible work ethic and an unwavering desire to succeed - but some will end the weekend nursing a disappointment of staggering proportions.

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It did not take me long to realise why has been able to squeeze so much out of his players this season.

I texted him last week to arrange a time for our interview. Shortly afterwards the reply arrived. Not only did he call me 'm8' but he dropped in smiley faces at the end of his sentences.

It was unlike any other text I had ever received from a professional sportsperson. Smiley faces are what my nephew uses, or perhaps my wife after a satisfying day out shopping. I showed it to a couple of people in the office and, without realising it, I guess I had already started to become infected by Coyle's unbelievable enthusiasm. I hadn't even spoken to him yet.

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Ipswich Town delivered to their supporters the very sweetest of victories over their arch rivals Norwich City on Sunday.

Their left Norwich's survival hopes hanging by a thread. Three days later, however, and is still in work while Town manager Jim Magilton is out of a job.

Such is the bizarre world of Football League management.

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Billy Clarke hates driving, so this must obviously be one of those cruel twists of fate that life sometimes throws up. That's because the 21-year-old is currently on his third loan spell of the season and racking up the miles behind the wheel.

First Darlington, then Northampton and now Brentford - no wonder the Irishman has developed an intimate knowledge of the motorway system. In the course of my entire interview with him he only swore once, it was almost an instinctive reaction and came immediately after I asked Clarke how many miles his car has done.

An added complication, though a very welcome one, is that Clarke's girlfriend is heavily pregnant and so he is coming to the end of one of the more unusual and hectic campaigns a lower league player is ever likely to encounter.

Or, as Clarke puts it: "You might say that I have been around the block."

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Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink planned to go home after and drink a glass of wine.

After what the Dutchman witnessed on Tuesday evening he would have been well within his rights to make it a very large scotch.

What unfolded at Stamford Bridge was a stone-cold classic, the sort of encounter that bolsters the belief held by many that English football is the most exciting in the world.

It was also the sort of match to send a manager over the edge.

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Monday's table-topping Championship encounter between west Midlands rivals Birmingham and Wolves might have given us a few answers.

Ultimately, however, only threw up more questions.

It was a passionate, feisty encounter, almost old-fashioned in the way gritty defending and full-bloodied tackling eclipsed any of the more aesthetic aspects of the beautiful game.

admitted afterwards that he had been more than happy as he watched the opening half hour of a contest that he described as "a game that was going nowhere".

With his team five points clear of Birmingham going into the fixture, a draw would have obviously suited him even if he insisted prior to the match that his team would be trying to take all three points. Had they won it would have taken a monumental loss of form over their final five games to deny them promotion.

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Luton Town chairman Nick Owen described the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final to me as a "shining beacon".

Owen made the comment on Friday and was referring specifically to the game's context in a season that he says has been "desperately difficult" for his club.

But ultimately what happened at Wembley on Sunday stands out as a shining beacon on so many different levels.

was a breathtaking encounter, worthy of any final.

To describe it as a great advert for lower division football would be nothing less than patronising. It was, quite simply, a great advert for the sport.

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