Victory for Blackpool over Lincoln City, and Brentford seeing off Swansea City, in the first two play-off finals means the Championship line-up for next season is complete. But what does it mean for Rovers?

Record against Hull City – Four wins out of four, that’s Rovers’ record against the Tigers in their most recent four meetings. Indeed, the symmetry of 1-0 wins at the KCOM and 3-0 Ewood wins saw Rovers claim 12 points in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons without conceding a goal.

David Raya windfall – Every little helps as they say, and after a near miss last year, Rovers will be due a sum from Brentford as they achieved promotion to the Premier League, with David Raya between the sticks. The deal that took the Spaniard to Brentford in 2019 included a promotion-based clause that will have been triggered, and with talk of a possible move this summer, there’s the chance of a sell-on clause coming into play too.

Blackpool trip – With fans set to return for next season, the plotting of away trips will be firmly on the agenda when the fixtures are released on June 24. Among the trips that will be eagerly anticipated will be one to Bloomfield Road. Rovers have won three of their five trips to Blackpool this century, most recently a 4-2 win in November 2017, with two pre-season wins in recent years to follow.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Power of three – The three best teams in the Championship were promoted. Brentford finished third on 87 points, a tally that 12 months earlier would have seen them promoted automatically, seven more than fourth-placed Swansea who they met in the final. While it wasn’t a clean sweep of relegated Premier League sides making an immediate return to the top flight, as Bournemouth couldn’t back up Norwich City and Watford, the best three teams over the course of 46 won deserved promotion.  

Posh memories – Arguably the best atmosphere of Tony Mowbray’s tenure came during a 3-1 win over Peterborough United at Ewood Park that moved them to within an inch of an immediate Championship return. Trailing 1-0 at the break, they roared back with three goals infront of the Blackburn End, with Bradley Dack celebrating a late goal in style. He was also scorer of one of the best breakaway Rovers goals in some time in the reverse fixture, memories of which will come flooding back when the two sides meet.

No trip to Brentford’s new stadium – Victory for Brentford means they will become the 50th different team to be playing in the Premier League. The 2-2 draw at their new Community Stadium home is the only game since February 2020 that Rovers have played infront of supporters. For those looking to visit all 92 grounds, a visit to Griffin Park is no longer enough to tick Brentford off the list, and their promotion means the Rovers travelling fraternity will have to make a special visit if they’re to chalk the Bees home off their list.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Armstrong effect – A win for Brentford will strengthen their chances of keeping hold of 33-goal striker Ivan Toney, which could in turn see clubs who would otherwise have looked at the Bees frontman turning their attentions to Adam Armstrong who netted 28 times. Toney netted his 11th penalty of the season in the play-off final wins, and taking spot-kicks out of the equation, Armstrong netted the most open play goals in the division.

All eyes on the summer – The three sides relegated from the Premier League last season were strong in the Championship, helped by a short transfer window which made it easier for them to keep hold of their better players. Returning to a regular season, that could impact on clubs’ willingness to sell, not least with the pandemic. West Brom and Fulham finished the season with plenty of loan players in their side, so may not be as strong as Norwich and Watford who kept their main players on board to launch an immediate assault on promotion.

Ex-Ewood bosses – Michael Appleton’s Lincoln City missed out on promotion despite taking an early lead against Blackpool, while Sam Allardyce has opted against extending his stay at West Brom to take in next season, meaning two former Rovers manager’s won’t be set for an Ewood Park reunion.

Pointing the way – For all the talk of parachute payments skewing the division, and there is plenty of weight to that particular argument, Brentford have shown that with sound recruitment, player trading and a club-wide philosophy can be enough to challenge with the bigger spenders in the division. Barnsley too, rising from fourth-bottom to fifth over the course of an excellent 12-month period. Having money is a benefit, but it doesn’t have to be quite the barrier that Rovers have sometimes made it out to be.