Huddersfield Town v Nottingham Forest: Championship play-off final – live!

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Championship playoff final between Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest at Wembley. We’re contractually obliged to call this “the richest game in football”, and what a thoroughly miserable viewpoint that is. This game is about money, of course it is, but it’s also about glory, euphoria and the creation of eternal memories.

By tonight, one of these teams will be a top-flight side – Forest for the first time since 1999, Huddersfield for only the second time since 1972. There is such goodwill towards Forest, particularly among us older farts, and the world will feel slightly less deranged if they are back in the Premier League next season. But there are two teams playing today, and in many ways Huddersfield being promoted would be an even better story.

Since relegation to the Championship in 2019, Huddersfield have finished 18th, 20th… and now third. Carlos Corberan, in his second season at the club, has done the most spectacular job. But then so has Steve Cooper, who took over in September with Forest bottom of the league. They are both intelligent, modern managers, and next season one of them will count Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte among their peers. How exciting is that?

Both teams have got here on the cheap – Huddersfield with a squad that cost around £2m, Forest through judicious use of the loan system. In a plutocracy they have no real place being at Wembley. But this game is about so much more than money.

Kick off 4.30pm.