Overall sense of disappointment leaves little to cheer in Yorkshire

A...is for Allam family.

With Hull City teetering on the edge of financial collapse, Ehab and Assam Allam rode to the rescue with a £40m bail-out and a transfer kitty for Nigel Pearson.

B...is for Barnsley.

Leeds may have finished highest in the Championship, but in the White Rose derbies it was Barnsley who emerged as Yorkshire’s Top Dogs with a 17 point haul – two ahead of Middlesbrough with Leeds a further point behind in third.

C...is for conceding goals.

Doncaster Rovers shipped 81 goals but stayed up at the expense of Sheffield United, who let in 79. Leeds, meanwhile, somehow finished seventh despite conceding 70 goals in 46 games.

D...is for drama.

Huddersfield Town’s bid to win the play-offs may have ended in disappointment but no-one who was at the Galpharm Stadium for the penalty shoot-out triumph over Bournemouth will ever forget such a thrilling night of drama.

E...is for escort.

After trouble flared at the final whistle, Chesterfield police whisked the Rotherham coaches away at breakneck speed – allowing this reporter to sneak his car between two supporter buses as the escort set off and speed through every red light in town.

F...is for floodlight failure.

The lights went out on Leeds United at Fratton Park in January because the Southern Electricity Board were unaware Portsmouth were playing at home and diverted power away from Fratton Park. Sounds like Pompey need to work on their marketing ahead of next season.

G...is for Grayson.

In December, Leeds United’s Simon Grayson finally got his hands on the Manager of the Month trophy after previously being nominated seven times in two years at Elland Road but never having won the prize. United beat leaders QPR, Burnley and Crystal Palace before ending the month with high-scoring draws against Leicester City and Portsmouth.

H...is for Haig Avenue.

Southport’s quaint home ground hosted a national television audience but the viewers at home were denied the shock they craved by a clinical Sheffield Wednesday performance as the League One side triumphed 5-2.

I...is for idiots.

The Millwall ‘fans’ who marred an otherwise impressive victory by their side at home to Leeds in April with relentless chants mocking the death of two United supporters in Istanbul 11 years earlier.

J...is for Jail.

Not the best start to his Bradford City career for Jake Speight when, just two weeks after joining from Mansfield for £25,000, he was jailed for assault. It set the tone for a chaotic season at Valley Parade.

K...is for Keystone Kops.

Hull’s defending at home to Middlesbrough during a first-half that ended 4-1 to the visitors had to be seen to be believed as the Tigers’ hopes of sneaking into the play-offs were ended.

L...is for losing habit.

Doncaster Rovers certainly suffered from this early in the New Year when they lost eight out of nine league and cup games, the one victory registered by Sean O’Driscoll’s injury-ravaged side being at home to Burnley when Michael Duff put through his own goal.

M...is for managers.

Sheffield United had four of them and, perhaps unsurprisingly, this musical chairs in the dugout resulted in the Blades being relegated to League One.

N...is for nil.

‘Bradford City nil’ appeared no less than 16 times in League Two, vividly illustrating just why the pre-season favourites to win promotion spent most of the year worrying about relegation.

O...is for Owls saved.

Like Hull a couple of weeks earlier, Sheffield Wednesday were rescued from potential ruin by Milan Mandaric’s takeover towards the end of the year. Results since then may not have been as expected but Gary Megson’s side will be one to watch in League One next term.

P...is for put-down.

As Jonny Howson capped an amazing fightback with the winner at Burnley, the Leeds fans repeated the chant ‘you should have gone Christmas shopping’ that their Clarets counterparts had aimed at the away seats just an hour earlier when the Lancashire team had led 2-0.

Q...is for quarter-final.

No appearance in the last eight of the two major cup competitions for Yorkshire clubs. In fact, none of our 10 sides managed to stay in the Carling Cup beyond August, while only Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town survived in the FA Cup beyond round three. The Owls eventually went out to Birmingham in the fifth round, while Huddersfield were unfortunate to lose to Arsenal in the previous round.

R...is for Richards.

The outpouring of grief that followed Dean Richards’s shock death at the age of just 36 said all you needed to know about one of football’s Mr Nice Guys.

S...is for Six.

For the first time in a league home game, Leeds United were hit for six on home soil as Preston North End came from 4-1 down to win 6-4.

T...is for Teams of the Year.

Only two Yorkshire-based players – Huddersfield’s Antony Pilkington and Nicky Law of Rotherham – got in the PFA Teams of the Year, underlining what a season of under-achievement 2010-11 has been for the county.

U...is for unstoppable.

FC Halifax Town hit the top early on in the Evostik Premier and never looked like relaxing their grip on the championship, eventually finishing 19-points clear to claim a place in next season’s Conference North.

V...is for video nasty.

Take your pick from Doncaster’s 6-0 hammering at home by Ipswich, Leeds losing 6-4 at home to a Preston side who were destined to be relegated, Rotherham’s 5-0 drubbing at Chesterfield, Sheffield Wednesday being humbled 5-1 at Exeter or Bradford’s capitulation by the same scoreline at home to Crewe on the final day. Huddersfield’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern Area final first leg defeat at Carlisle also warrants mention, though Lee Clark’s side did at least make a decent fist of trying to overhaul a four-goal deficit in the return before bowing out 4-3 on aggregate.

W...is for woeful.

For the second time in three seasons, not one of Yorkshire’s senior clubs managed to win promotion – meaning just Leeds in 2009-10 have managed to escape their division in the right direction during those three years.

X...is for x-rated.

The leg break and dislocated ankle suffered by Anthony Pilkington during Huddersfield’s victory at home to Rochdale was so bad it left several of the winger’s team-mates on the verge of tears. Happily, Pilkington is well on the road to recovery.

Y...is for Youth Cup.

A truly miserable season at Bramall Lane was, at least, given a positive ending when the Blades’ youngsters battled through to the FA Youth Cup final. The youngsters may not have been able to prevent Manchester United lifting the trophy for a 10th time but their efforts offer hope for the future.

Z...is for zzzzzzzz.

A long summer stretches ahead for the county’s football fans, though they can at least console themselves with the fact that the fixtures for next season are due out a fortnight on Friday.