Generally, by mid-April, fans tend have a pretty good idea of how their club's season has gone. Some fans will be spending the next 4-6 weeks a jangling ball of nerves, as the heart-wrenching anguish of a title challenge, playoff push or desperate fight for survival looms.
But frankly, they're all boring and overly sensationalist stories. Plus as a Wolves fan I'm itching to get away from the grim reality of the near future. So I thought it was time to take a more light-hearted look at what lies ahead for a few clubs, and give those slightly more obscure battles a chance to stand in the limelight.
Starting at the business end (of the Blue Square Bet Premier), you've got AFC Wimbledon, Luton and possibly Wrexham battling for the unsponsored Conference Championship. Unsponsored because money's got no business interfering with the league title. Hi, Crawley fans...
Meanwhile, in the Barclays Premier League, despite the incredibly hard to predict term where maybe three teams have managed to hold together a consistent season, Everton are admirably near to achieving their aim of 8th placed obscurity once again.
It'll be a tough ask for them to manage their results through the season, as they are too close to catching Liverpool for comfort, and after an unfortunate win over Wolves last weekend, need to make sure they're outscored by Bolton in the last six games.
Scotland, and the infamous SPLit is almost upon us. Which of course means the intriguing battle between the 6th and 7th placed teams (Motherwell and Inverness CT, yet again) to see if 7th can finish the season with more points than 6th, to stick yet more fingers up at the historians.
Elsewhere in Scotland, after a few years in the wilderness, East Stirling are making a late bid to reclaim their rightful crown as the snappily-titled Irn-Bru Scottish Football League Third Division basket cases, with Clyde current incumbents of the lowest position in Scottish league football, comfortable in the knowledge relegation will never be a threat.
And once again, Bradford are steaming away with the Michael Ricketts-endorsed, "I Can't Believe They Were In The Premier League" award. Now in its 18th season, this highly-sought after piece of silverware was always destined to go to Bradford this season as the only ex-Prem representative in League 2.
Swindon are making a bid for relegation from League 1 to make a challenge for the crown next season, although of course Bradford don't seem beyond diving out of the Football League altogether in a desperate bid to retain their crown, which they've held almost unopposed for four seasons.
There's lots more teams already mired in midtable for this season of course, and in those will be a mix of relief, grudging acceptance and disappointment. If you're one of those (un)lucky fans, then do keep an eye out for the fortunes of the teams I've mentioned here. And if, like me, you're in the nail-biting brigade for the next month, try to remember that, for better or worse, at least you've still got something to be shouting for.
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