With the Championship season over for another year for our West London teams, attention immediately turns to next year and the potential threats which await.
QPR, Fulham and Brentford all endured differing campaigns this season, but with runaway top-two Newcastle and Brighton being promoted, what challenge can our teams expect from the relegated Premier League trio of Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland?
Hull City
The Tigers could be in for a make-or-break summer. After a torrid first half of the season they picked up their form after the appointment of Portuguese prodigy, Marco Silva.
Hull's formed turned around dramatically, and frankly i believe if the campaign was 10 games longer i believe they would have secured safety at the expense of Swansea City.
A lot depends on whether the club can retain their manager, but with interest from clubs such as Watford and Porto, it remains to be seen whether he would be willing to drop down to the Championship.
A few players may have attracted Premier League interest, most notably the likes of youngsters Harry Maguire and Andrew Robertson, and I think the success of their Championship campaign very much depends on how much of the current set-up they can retain for next season.
Middlesbrough
Boro were having a successful campaign up until the January transfer window when the wheels came flying off in dramatic fashion.
A summer of ambitious recruitment, signing the likes of Alvaro Negredo and Victor Valdes couldn't be followed up mid-season, with Patrick Bamford, Rudy Gestede and Adlene Guedioura all making next to no impact as the club tumbled into the relegation zone with barely a whimper.
Middlesbrough can expect to lose a few of their big name stars this summer, but providing they keep hold of the core of their squad, including the likes of Ben Gibson, Adam Clayton and Adam Forshaw, they can expect to be fighting at the top end of the table comes May next year.
This will, however, depend on them appointing a manager with the neccesary guile to guide the team through a slog of a Championship campaign.
Sunderland
It could be a long old season for Sunderland next year.
In a similar mould to Aston Villa 12 months ago, the Black Cats simply didn't have enough quality to even look remotely likely to pull off their infamous Premier League great escape.
In amongst a distinctly mediocre squad, star players Jordan Pickford and Jermaine Defoe look certainties to leave Wearside, meaning David Moyes is left with nothing but a skeleton of a squad to rebuild as they approach an increasingly more competitive Championship.
Sunderland will require major surgery over the coming seasons, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them languishing in lower-mid-table as the season ends in 12 momnths time.
