Sol Bamba will leave Middlesbrough after his one-year contract expired.

The 37-year-old returned to football with Boro after he recovered from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in May last year.

The Ivory Coast defender played 29 times for the club but he will now leave Chris Wilder's side.

Wales international Neil Taylor and fellow defender Lee Peltier also go, but captain Jonny Howson is to be offered a new deal.

Howson, 34, missed just one league game all season and the midfielder was named the club's player of the year.

The news comes two days after Boro missed out on a spot in the Championship play-offs, following a 4-1 loss at Preston North End as they finished seventh.

Bamba was brought to the club last summer by previous manager Neil Warnock, who had worked with the defender at Cardiff, and he made an emotional comeback months after getting the all-clear when he came on as a substitute in a 3-0 loss to Blackpool in the Carabao Cup.

He was given a warm ovation by Boro supporters when he made his final appearance as a sub in their final home game of the season, a 3-1 win over Stoke.

Taylor played 17 times after he signed a short-term deal in November with the left-back having been without a club since leaving Aston Villa.

Ex-West Brom defender Peltier was signed last summer by Warnock, and he went on to make 26 appearances for them.

Midfield pair Joe Rothwell and Bradley Johnson have left Blackburn Rovers after their contracts expired.

Rothwell departs after four years at Ewood Park since arriving from Oxford United.

The 27-year-old made 161 appearances and scored 11 goals, including playing 41 Championship games this season.

Johnson spent three years with the club following a switch from Derby County, with the 35-year-old featuring 86 times for them.

Rothwell's final game was in the 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, which ended Blackburn's chances of making the play-offs.

However, Johnson's role in the team had diminished this season as he only started eight games, the last of which was a 1-0 loss to Stoke on Easter Monday.

Burton Albion boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has released five players.

Short-term February signing Oumar Niasse, defender Michael Bostwick and winger Danny Rowe have all been let go by the League One club.

Defender Luke Redfern and forward Aaron Amadi-Holloway are the other two not to be offered a new deal.

But captain John Brayford and midfielders Joe Powell and Michael Mancienne are among seven who have been offered fresh terms with the Brewers.

Goalkeepers Callum Hawkins and Daniel Moore, defender Thierry Latty-Fairweather and striker Tom Hewlett have also been offered new deals.

"Obviously we will see a few players leave," said Hasselbaink. "Michael Bostwick was really influential when we stayed up last season and we'll always remember him for that.

"It hasn't really worked out for Danny and Aaron, and we will also be losing Luke and Oumar too.

"John Brayford has played a lot of matches and was missed when he didn't play. He deserves the player of the season award."

Burton, saved from relegation by Hasselbaink when he returned to the club in January 2021, finished 16th in League One for the second season running.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans has released 15 players and put another four on the transfer list following their 21st place finish in League Two.

Just seven senior players - including Jamie Reid, Jake Taylor, Luke Norris and Elliott List - have been retained.

Laurie Walker, Ross Marshall, Arthur Read and Jack Smith have all been put on the transfer list as Evans, who took over in March, reshapes the squad.

Captain Scott Cuthbert and defender Ben Coker are among those to be let go.

Luke Prosser, Chris Lines and Bruno Andrade - who made 100 appearances between them this season - are also departing.

Retained: Luther James-Wildin, Terence Vancooten, Jake Reeves, Jake Taylor, Luke Norris, Jamie Reid, Elliott List.

Released: Scott Cuthbert, Ben Coker, Luke O'Neill, Luke Prosser, Sacha Bastien, James Daly, Harry Draper, Timmy Smith, Ed Upson, Chris Lines, Charlie Carter, Bruno Andrade, Bradley Barry, Sam Dreyer, Luis Fernandez.

Kenny Davis
Kenny Davis was a black cab driver until last summer when Sutton United were promoted to the EFL
Sutton United trio Kenny Davis, Ricky Korboa and Stuart Nelson will all leave the club at the end of their contracts this summer.

The club finished just one point off the League Two play-offs in their first season in the EFL.

Midfielder Davis, 34, made 185 appearances for the club, scoring seven goals, since joining in 2017.

Winger Korboa, 25, joined last summer and keeper Nelson, 40, arrived on a short-term deal in January.

On Davis, Sutton boss Matt Gray said: ''Kenny has been a superb player for the club and his professionalism and influence both on and off the pitch have been outstanding.

"Making his Football League debut, scoring his first Football League goal and appearing at Wembley were fitting rewards for his dedication and service to the club, and he will always be welcome at Sutton United.

"He remains a great friend and we wish him every success in the rest of his career.''

Forest Green Rovers defender Dom Bernard has agreed a new contract as seven other players depart.

The newly-crowned League Two champions have confirmed a deal for the 25-year-old to extend his stay at the club.

But Taylor Allen, Jack Evans, Jake Young, Opi Edwards, Elliott Whitehouse, Vaughn Covil and Luke Hallett are all leaving at the end of their contracts.

In a statement, the club said: "A massive thank you to all departing players. You're all history makers."

Rovers are also in contract talks with midfield trio Ebou Adams, Nicky Cadden and Sadou Diallo, as well as defenders Kane Wilson and Dan Sweeney.

Premier League

BBB                    6pts 0CS 3CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Snooty                2pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Minizin                2pts 0CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
SCO                    1pt 1CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Derby                  1pt 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Sanjay                  0pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
BaggieOne            0pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Silver                    0pts 0CS 1CR -3GB 3BB 0SB

I owe the readers of this an apology. Last week I commented that approaching the end of the season, it seemed like the Premiership predictors had finally worked it out. I was wrong. A grand total of 12 points between the lot of you means that the season finale wasn't exactly a display of fireworks, though it wasn't the worst week as the score was 1 point higher than in week 11.

BBB tops the week's table but desperately in need of a good week to escape the relegation play off position, I suspect 6 points won't be enough. He can at least celebrate  being the only player to score on the gamball though he didn't get much else. Snooty and Minizin share 2nd place with a massive 2 points, both of them scoring from 4 matches - more than anyone else - but both also losing out on all their balls.

SCO and Derby clawed their way into positive territory thanks to getting the only 2 scoreballs and all other players registered a big fat zero. Nothing like ending the season on a high!

Derby 342 Champion
Sanjay 333
SCO 310
Minizin 306
Silver 300
Snooty 290
BBB 285 Play-offs
BaggieOne 253 Relegated
AAA 79 Relegated

Hardly a surprise given the low scores, but there were no positional changes this week meaning that long time leader Derby is the new 2021/22 Prediction League Champion, holding off a late challenge from Sanjay in 2nd place. BaggieOne will return to the Championship after a brief stay with the big boys while BBB will head into the promotion/relegation play-off.

Minor prizes to SCO being the top gamball scorer, Silver for the best bonus ball score with Snooty and Derby sharing the scoreball top spot. The overall champion baller is Derby, 12 points ahead of SCO. Interesting to note that Sanjay was let down by his balls scoring 56 less points than Derby.

Now on to the Championship and cup semi-finals where I suspect the final week was more interesting (thank you, Everton!)

Zin

Championship

Salop 12pts 2CS 1CR NPGB 6BB 0SB
Amelia 10pts 2CS 2CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie 6pts 1CS 2CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Themaclad 5pts 1CS 1CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Stairs 4pts 0CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Dingle 3pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Twerton 1pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Lady Jane 0pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Zinman -1pts 0CS 1CR NPGB -3BB 0SB

Well the Championship wasn't as bad as the Prem but it wasn't much better either!!  Nobody scored positive points by playing the Gamball and all bar two players got the Bonus wrong as well.  Top of the pile this week is Salop who needed a good week to try to make the playoffs, will his 12 points be enough?  Amelia continued her decent recent form with 10 points, could she escape winning the wooden spoon?  Blue is in third with just 6 points, but the fact that I haven't mentioned Stairs yet will tell you where this will put him in the final table.

Themaclad finished on 5 points, followed by Stairs with 4 points and Dingle with 3 points.  Nothing much to say about these scores with Themaclad the only one to get a CR on the Bonus but all three of them getting the scoreball.

Twerton finished with 1 point, his form has escaped him in the closing weeks.  Lady Jane has had no form for a while and this week she definitely had the flip flops on and scored a zero!  The most interesting score is Zinmans last placed -1, way behind his main rival Salop's score, has he scuppered his playoffs with this abysmal return or did his resting of players for the playoffs work?

332 - Blue Baggie - Champion
325 - Stairs - Promoted
293 - Zinman - Play-Off
288 - Salop
268 - Themaclad
265 - Dingle
242 - Amelia
238 - Twerton
230 - Lady Jane

Blue Baggie takes the Championship title!!!  Stairs was close but will have to settle for the 2nd auto spot.  Zinman very nearly blew it all in the final week but in the end he goes into the PO against BBB by finishing 5 points ahead of Salop.  Themaclad and Dingle have been on the beach for a few weeks I think!!  Amelia climbed out of the bottom two for the first week in absolutely ages as she overtakes the sinking Twerton and rock bottom Lady Jane!!

Just a few highlights on season totals.  Top points scorer on the Gamball is Salop, he only played it 4 times but scored on it plenty of times when not playing it, ironically had he played it every week he would have gained a further 24 points and a place in the POs!!  By contrast Lady Jane ended up on -45 on the Gamball, an 85 point swing between her and Salop!!  The Bonus was a disaster most of the year with only 3 points in total being scored!!  Amelia topped the charts on this with 21 points.  Themaclad scored the most on the Scoreball with 23 points.  Top total ball playing player was Salop courtesy ironically on not playing the Gamball, followed by Stairs who had the same tactic and then Zinman in 3rd.

Cheers
SCO

So the PO final will be between BBB and Zinman, check out the Cup thread to see who made the Cup Final.

It looks like quite a few Hibs players won't play in this match due to injuries picked up v the Dons at the weekend. Paul Hanlon is one of them and been playing with a painful injury for weeks and requiring a knee op at the end of the season. It's the story of our season I'm afraid!!
I guess SDG and fast Eddie will just have to improvise with the players they have left and come up with an accountable first team lineup.

GGTTH

For those of you (us???) involved in the play off and cup final - names to be confirmed when SCO publishes the final tables. )i've sent him the Premiership scores but I guess he's somewhat pre-occupied by the real play-offs!)


Gamball:
Sheff Utd - Nottingham Forest (Saturday)

Others:
Chelsea - Liverpool
Mansfield - Northampton
Aston Villa - Crystal Palace
Leeds - Brighton
Watford - Leicester
Everton - Brentford
West Ham - Man City
Newcastle - Arsenal
Huddersfield - Luton (Monday)

Where appropriate, scores are taken after extra time.

Tuesday's games

Bromley 2-1 Altrincham
Grimsby 1-1 Boreham Wood

Wednesday

Stockport 0-1 Torquay United

League Table After Matchday 59

Lord Snoots = 632
Devon = 604
Amelia = 596
St Charles = 592
Spireitematt = 556
Dancing = 526