Reading's defeat to Swansea today has meant that the 24 teams battling it out with each other next season have been confirmed.
It might be early to judge how each team will fare next campaign but just a quick look at the teams tells me that next season is going to be tougher than the last. Here are the teams:
Barnsley
Birmingham City
Blackpool
Brighton & Hove Albion
Burnley
Bristol City
Cardiff City
Coventry City
Crystal Palace
Derby County
Doncaster Rovers
Hull City
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Nottingham Forest
Peterborough United
Portsmouth
Reading
Southampton
Watford
West Ham United
That lineup looks stronger than the season just gone, doesn't it? You'd expect the three relegated sides to be in much better shape than Burnley, Hull and ourselves last year whilst the former two sides should settle with promising young managers aiming for promotion.
You would expect the teams that failed in the play-offs this season to have a good go next year whilst Leicester are bound to be stronger thanks to their financial power and Middlesbrough's fortunes should also be revived under Tony Mowbray.
There are plenty of other sides in that list who may well be stronger next year and both Brighton and our neighbours down the road are coming up to this league on sound financial footing and I'd expect neither to finish in the bottom three next season.
Maybe Peterborough aside, there are no outstanding candidates for relegation unlike Scunthorpe and Preston last season. With so many other clubs in much healthier positions that Pompey at this current moment in time it does make you wonder if next season is going to be a bigger struggle than the last.
With only eight players under contract and able to play next season, Portsmouth are already being named as one of the favourites for the drop to League One come May 2012.
I expect those odds will change if (or when) this takeover takes place and if Steve Cotterill can sign some players but even if he can, I still expect next season to be much tougher than the one just gone.
Rumours suggest that there might be some positive takeover news this week (when have we heard that before?) so watch this space (again) and hopefully there'll be some good news on the horizon.
If not, then there's a possibility that Pompey may prop up every name on the above list come the end of next season.