As we reach the end of the most topsy turvy of season and head into the final act, this week’s column is brought to you by the letter F.
No matter when Easter falls, it always feels like the official beginning of the “business of the season” - to coin a classic football cliche.
Matches come thick and fast and within the blink of the eye we are already sat scrolling desperately for transfer rumours and bemoaning a perceived lack of business if eight world beaters are not signed before the end of June.
F is for Final Act
It still feels remarkable given the opening act of the season that we enter the final act genuinely looking up and thinking “maybe, just maybe”.
Turn the clock back to the last time I stood on English soil, in November, and we were very much expecting this stage to be squeaky bum time in a relegation dogfight.
Some of us, myself included, were genuinely mental preparing for the bleakest of bleak possibilities that that lot down the road could end a lengthy wait for a victory in Norfolk and hammer the last nail in our coffin.
Now, who knows what the final act of this drama of Shakespearean proportions could bring.
Realistically, defeat at Southampton probably put paid to any late play-off ambitions, but there are still plenty of points to play for - it’s not entirely off the table.
F is for finish with a flourish
One thing that is indisputable is that City have something that has been abundantly absent in recent times - momentum.
We still sit as one of 2026’s most in-form teams, despite the result at St Mary’s.
Just like losing, winning becomes a habit, so even if the play-off door is closed, it is so important this is maintained.
A certain Leicester team of a decade ago will be able to tell you how useful finishing with a flourish can be.
The season before the most unlikely of title wins, the Foxes looked dead and buried.
In pulling themselves out of the mire, they found a winning habit which they maintained, carried over and did the impossible.
If City can do the same and finish with a flourish, next season will be very fun indeed.
F is for Farage
As I have stated on numerous occasions, I have little to no interest in international football. These days I even struggle to get excited about tournaments, although I do generally just about get there.
So clearly when an international break arrives, there needs to be some kind of fun to fill the void.
Enter Nigel Farage.
Without giving away too much about my own personal politics, I have a similar amount of time for the Reform leader as I do Ed Sheeran albums, Adam Sandler films and haemorrhoids.
So to see the odious piece of work pop up at what I’m sure he’d love to rename Deportman Road - and the fallout from it - very much filled that void.
Clearly everybody is entitled to their own political views, but this was a massive PR blunder from our Suffolk neighbours.
And given as a club we’ve had a fair share of publicity slip-ups over the years, it was impossible not to enjoy seeing them under the microscope instead.
F is for… mess it up for them
Which brings my nicely to my final point for the week - and I’ll leave you to figure out how ‘mess’ is an F word!
As I previously mentioned, earlier in the season I very much feared what the stakes would be for next week’s East Anglian derby.
While it near enough certainly has no bearing on a relegation dogfight, there is still so much more than pride at stake.
Unfortunately, the Tractor Boys are still very much in the running for an automatic promotion place.
Even as a dead rubber there is never nothing riding on a derby, but this one feels as important as any.
Keeping our own faint glimmer of a play-off spot alive is simply a side quest from where I’m sitting.
Throwing a spanner in the works of their promotion push is the most important factor - and nothing would make me happier than doing that by dishing out a hiding at home.
For the same reason, I’ll shed few tears if Easter Monday at Millwall doesn’t turn out to be good for our play-off hopes either.
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