In the end, just a single point separated Reading and Southampton; the Berkshire club’s astounding run of form from January built very much on their being a team and not a collection of individuals and Adam Le Fondre’s thrilling brace deciding the April summit meeting. Either could have been worthy winners of this award – Reading for overcoming the loss of key players Shane Long and Matt Mills and Southampton for negotiating the jump in class so effortlessly.

As would Charlton Athletic – 101 points up and in possession of an almost entire new squad under Chris Powell.

But the winners of our 2011-12 Team gong are the side whose 1-0 FA Cup win at the Madejski Stadium spurred that Reading team into action. Form can be carried from one high-achieving season into the next, but beating the Addicks, and both halves of Sheffield, and coming within a whisker of a second successive Wembley final, while losing their manager mid-way through, makes Stevenage deserving winners. The Boro had absolutely no right on merit to finish sixth in League 1 or take Spurs to a cup replay – it was a triumph of team spirit and hard work over flashy showmanship.

2010-11 winners: Brighton
2009-10 winners: Blackpool ^[1]

With that bombshell, we are putting our feet up for 3 weeks to enjoy Euro 2012. We’ll be back on July 2.