Behold: the league where six teams could win the title on the final day

SOUTHBOUND AND UP

The Premier League, Major League Baseball, The Human League, The National Football League, The League of Gentlemen, the Indian Premier League or your pick of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. Everyone has their own favourite league, despite what various excitable pundits and commentators would have you believe, but the thorny issue of deciding which is the best is entirely a matter of opinion and personal taste. While the National League South – comprising half the sixth tier of English football’s pyramid – is unlikely to feature on too many shortlists, few can be more competitive. Going into the 46th and final round of games this season, no fewer than a quarter of its 24 teams can still be crowned champions on Saturday afternoon.

Fittingly for a division which, as its name suggests, is contested by teams from the meridional area of England and Wales, the most southern-based team are top of the table. Located in Cornwall, Truro City are in pole position but the Tinners are level on points with their bitter rivals and the league’s next most southerly side, Torquay United, and only lead by a goal difference of +2. Truro welcome relegation-threatened St Albans, knowing victory will not be enough to win them the title if the Gulls go to Hemel Hempstead and win by three goals more. Interestingly, in three league and FA Trophy “El Pastyco” derbies this season, the former big boys from Devon have had Truro’s measure, but still look like they might miss out on promotion to the National League.

“Like the main characters in Withnail and I, they are going to win it by mistake,” declared Football Daily’s in-no-way-bitter Torquay United-supporting standup comedian and broadcasting chum, Charlie Baker. “I wish them well next season in the National League as they travel 450 miles each way to play Gateshead, Carlisle and Hartlepool on a Tuesday or Wednesday night in the middle of winter. My beloved Gulls are a revolutionised team and club, who this time last year were 24 hours away from being dissolved. To quote Harry Diamond, Rory McIlroy’s caddie: ‘We’d have taken this on Monday.’” But back to Saturday.

Should Truro and Torquay fail to win, there are four different cabs gunning their engines on the rank ready to overtake them. Eastbourne Borough and Worthing are both a point behind the top two, but their inferior goal difference means both need to win to have any chance of the title. Behind them and three points behind the leaders, both Boreham Wood and Dorking Wanderers have significantly better goal differences and are therefore still in with a shout if everyone above fails to win. Working on the naive assumption that the National League’s budget stretches to the rental of a helicopter to deliver the southern division’s trophy to whichever ground it is needed at 5pm on Saturday, Football Daily wasted some time trying to figure out where best the chopper in question might spend the day waiting to take off. Several drawing pins, bits of red string and a large map later, we reckon somewhere bang in the middle of the Hemel Hempstead, Eastbourne Borough and Truro City triangle would maximise fuel efficiency, with the one-time Roman garrison town of Ilchester in Somerset more than fitting the bill on what promises to be a big day in the south.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

Join Rob Smyth from 8pm BST for hot Premier League MBM coverage of, for all our desk counterparts’ sakes at 10pm, Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Yes, we wanted it, but sometimes you are shouting against the wind and nobody hears you. I don’t want to complain about fixtures but I think it’s not the best choice from the Premier League” – Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has got the funk on and definitely isn’t complaining about fixtures after Aston Villa were given an extra day to prepare for their FA Cup semi-final, with the League turning down a request for both teams to play on the same night this midweek.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

It seems to me there have been more articles/podcasts/opinion pieces (I’m looking at you) on how well/badly/why are they even bothering to come up on Leeds and Burnley in the past 24 hours than there have been on the late pope. Yes, of course next season will be a struggle but, as a Leeds fan, I’m looking forward to it. We get to hang out with the cool kids. We get to see our team on Match of the Day at a reasonable hour and not ITV4 at various different times depending on how long the snooker has over ran before it. And last, but by no means least, at least for one glorious season, we don’t have to listen to Don Goodman on co-comms on Sky Sports. So please, a 24-hour moratorium on Leeds and Burnley’s outlook would be gratefully accepted” – John Scannell.

Re: ‘In da club’ (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition). As an ex-pat, spare a thought for my local club, SM Caen, who were bought by Kylian Mbappé in July 2024 and a swift return to the top tier was highly anticipated. Alas, it was not to be. After sitting adrift at the bottom of Ligue 2 for most of the season, we have now been relegated to Ligue 3 for the first time since 1984. So to all my fellow fans of smaller clubs, I say this: beware mega-rich footballers approaching your boardroom” – Neil Carter.

OK, I get it now. Ruben Amorim is obviously sandbagging. Usually I take any and every chance to have a dig at Manchester United, but it’s all become so clear. He’s a genius. He’s seen the opportunity of finishing 17th without the possibility of relegation and he’s going for it. Think about it: the only way to flip the narrative is to fully bottom out. To be absolutely dire. To make 11th place seem like a distant dream. This is by design. He knows the only way forward is to burn the house down, but he can’t say that. It’s footballing slash and burn. He will leave the centre-backs isolated. He will pick a flimsy, child-based midfield. He will select his most egotistical and selfish wingers. He will give Rasmus Højlund all the time he needs to overcome his shy, awkward phase in a safe space just outside the 18-yard box where nobody will bother him. Then, next season, the tide will turn. Progress will come to Old Trafford. The curse will be lifted and with hard work, seven or eight top, top signings and a lucrative pre-season tour of the USA USA USA under their belt, they will master the high-pressing 3-4-2-1 formation and go on to finish a strong 16th with a healthy positive goal difference. Bravo” – Jimmy O’Brien.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Neil Carter, who wins a copy of The Scouting Game, by Chris Robinson and courtesy of Pitch Publishing. Visit their bookshop here. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

SITTING, WATCHING DOKU, OLÉ

Yes, the Premier League still rumbles on. And yes, the only issue with anything riding on it is the race for Bigger Cup spots. But we can’t let Manchester City’s last-gasp 2-1 win over Aston Villa go by without a mention for Jérémy Doku’s decisive assist, beating his man and then delivering a swoonsome low cross with the outside of his boot across the six-yard box for Matheus Nunes to turn home. “I was so happy. I have to admit it,” cooed Pep Guardiola. “If we win the next four games, [this] win will have been so important.”

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

Durban City player Sinamandla Zondi has died after collapsing in the warm-up before their match against Milford in South Africa. “Sinamandla was more than a talented footballer. He was a teammate, a friend, a brother, a son and an inspiration to all who knew him,” read a club statement.

Former Brazil and Flamengo coach Tite is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health. “I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” he said.

Club World Cup nights … Channel 5 (in the UK).

Everton have brought a new investor on board, with American billionaire Christopher Sarofim joining their ownership group.

Marcus Rashford will decide his future no earlier than mid-June, with his preference being to leave Manchester United for a club in Bigger Cup … albeit not one in London.

Mikel Arteta won’t rest Arsenal’s players just because there’s a Bigger Cup semi with PSG looming on the horizon. “I think when the players are fit and they are available and they want to play, they have to play,” he cheered.

And Barcelona are now seven points clear at the top of La Liga after edging past Mallorca 1-0 thanks to Dani Olmo’s winner.

STILL WANT MORE?

Ben McAleer picks over the Premier League trio returning to the second tier and selects those who’ll be top of this summer’s shopping lists.

The stardust at St Andrew’s is shining on Birmingham, with Chris Davies’s dominant side securing promotion and sights set on the Premier League. Ben Fisher catches up with the jubilant and ambitious Blues.

Louise Taylor looks at Leeds’s return to the top flight and how they can be smart about their spending to avoid yo-yoing back down.

And which managers have followed club legends with instant success? The Knowledge knows.

MEMORY LANE

The kits are playing tricks with our mind from this trip to Highbury in January 2003, when Farnborough Town were the “home” team in their FA Cup fourth-round match against Arsenal. The non-leaguers had switched the tie to a money-spinning date in north London (worth around £500,000) and produced a battling display with 10 men for more than an hour, going out 5-1.