Forget the Premier League; the Sky Bet Championship is the best league in the world.

We were again reminded of how brilliant England's second tier is following a huge night of drama across Wednesday's final fixtures. We went into the evening knowing that spots in automatic promotion, the play-offs and relegation were all available.

West Brom, Brentford and Fulham all failed to win as they aimed to secure second place. That meant that the Baggies returned to the Premier League and the two West London rivals will battle it out for promotion via the play-offs.

Sky Bet Championship play-off dates

Semi-finals

• Swansea v Brentford (18:30 - Sunday July 26)
• Cardiff v Fulham (19:45 - Monday July 27)
• Brentford v Swansea (19:45 - Wednesday July 29)
• Fulham v Cardiff (19:45 - Thursday July 30)

Final

• Wembley Stadium (19:45 - Tuesday August 4)

This preview should have included Nottingham Forest. Sabri Lamouchi's men looked certain for the play-offs but they failed to win any of their last six games. A defeat, combined with a Swansea win and a six-goal swing on final day, would have seen them drop out of the top-six altogether. They were 1/66 to finish in the play-offs; it shouldn't have happened; it did happen.

Forest's collapse was some source of 'joy' for Cardiff boss Neil Harris. The two clubs had fallen out following Forest's decision to recall Albert Adomah from his loan spell at their top-six rivals.

"Sabri Lamouchi was manager of the year in the Championship four weeks ago and finished seventh," Harris told the media after they beat Hull on final day. Cardiff are full of confidence and so they should.