Eight Yorkshire football clubs' fates hang in the balance in massive weekend across the divisions

Relegation bec

Relegation beckons for Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

It also ends Barnsley, Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City’s regular campaigns but all can win extra time. Play-off dreams have come from nowhere for the League Two pair but missing them would be a nightmare for League One Barnsley.

Championship Hull City’s Championship play-off hopes will end if results go against them. Only the fates of Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday cannot be decided but what they (and others) do on Friday and Saturday respectively will shape their D-days, next weekend.

A Leeds win at Queens Park Rangers ramps up the promotion pressure on Ipswich Town at Hull City.

South, East and West Yorkshire can expect shredded nerves, constantly refreshed phones and experts in the fixture lists and form guides of rival teams. Lucky North Yorkshire, where Harrogate are just playing for a top-half finish and York City won their Conference relegation battle last week.

Defeat at Newcastle United will put the Blades out of their misery – sort of. Relegation has felt inevitable all season and after last week's 4-1 defeat at Burnley, even manager Chris Wilder gave up the pretence.

"I'm not being defeatist, I'm just being a realist," he said, dropping the "we'll keep fighting until it's mathematically impossible" bluster.

In this Premier League season, though, nothing is as clear-cut as it should be. Unless Luton Town win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, the safety mark will be 26 points, but an increase in the financial fair play points deduction Nottingham Forest are appealing could change that. It seems unlikely and irrelevant here.Across the city, Wednesday have been in the Championship relegation zone all season until Sunday brought an unusual feeling: hope.

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A 3-1 win at Blackburn Rovers lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since the opening weekend, when league tables are not league tables at all.

“It's a good step but we know it's not enough to have 47 points,” cautions killjoy-in-chief (aka manager) Danny Rohl.

With 22nd-placed Birmingham City at 23rd-placed Huddersfield, they probably need something at home to play-off-chasing West Bromwich Albion to not start the final week back amongst the dead men but winning in front of a 30,000-plus crowd could set up one of the most unlikely escapes in Championship history with a week to spare.

For the Terriers, there are no second chances.

"The season is never over after 44 games in the Championship," says their coach Andre Breitenreiter. It could be after 45.

Lose in front of fans who turned on them last week and they will be in next season's League One with Rotherham. How many Yorkshire derbies the Millers will have is anyone's guess.

Barnsley had something approaching a mental breakdown ahead of a game at home to Northampton Town which for a long time looked like being a dead rubber. Two wins in 11 games put paid to that.

Now, goal difference means draws for Lincoln City (at home to champions Portsmouth) and Oxford United (at Exeter City), or a Blackpool win (at Reading) moves each above Barnsley if they lose. Two must leapfrog them to deny Barnsley a third play-offs in four years, but the Reds have handicapped themselves.

If sacking Neill Collins on Monday was a crowd-pleasing move, replacing him with a caretaker in Martin Devaney whose managerial record is played three, lost three (after relegation in 2022) is a huge gamble.

Hull have also been season-long play-off contenders but must win their last two and hope West Brom or Norwich City have already had their final victory. As they play at 3pm, Hull’s 8pm game could be meaningless or massive.

For Bradford and Doncaster, this is a real bonus.

Ninety-five minutes into their February 3 game at Sutton United, Rovers were about to drop to within four points of the relegation zone, only for Joe Ironside to bury a fortuitously-awarded penalty.

Now they are fifth, knowing only defeat, Crawley Town and Barrow wins and points for Crewe Alexandra can deny them the play-offs.

You will probably not hear Grant McCann’s name often in manager of the season discussions. You should.

Since defeat at Harrogate on March 23 Bradford have won every game bar one, and that was a draw.

They need another victory at home to Newport County on Saturday, plus a Barrow loss and Crawley not beating Grimsby Town.

Newport have lost their last seven games, Barrow four of their previous five and Crawley have not won their last four.

There is only one certainty this weekend: it will not be boring.