Match of the Day means different things to different people. For Ian Wright it means a little more than most. The former striker has previously spoken of his childhood and of how his stepdad was “a weed-smoking, gambling, coming-home-late, gambling-his-wages, womanising kind of guy. He was rough with my mum and rough with all of us kids. And I don’t know why, but he didn’t like me in particular. One of the few things my brother and I looked forward to in the house was Match of the Day, and my stepdad used to take that away from us — just because he could. Depending on what mood he was in, he’d come into the bedroom just before it started and he’d say: ‘Turn around to the wall.’ We had to face the wall the whole time Match of the Day was on. And the really cruel thing was that we could still hear everything. It was awful. Whenever I heard the theme music come on, I would feel that pain in my chest. The first time I went on the show as a presenter, Des Lynam walked up and said: ‘Ian Wright, welcome to Match of the Day.’ I nearly broke down crying.”

Wright’s displays of emotion are his legacy as a pundit. He has subliminally assured people in this country that it is OK to cry, to be joyful, to care about something. The tears, the giggling, his joyful kissing of the television screen after an Arsenal goal, the impassioned and articulate pleas to fight against racism, that Mr Pigden video and the Desert Island Discs interview that followed, the open declarations of platonic male friendship. Such is the open bond between him, Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker that Wright got a tattoo on his hand over lockdown with the numbers ‘8, 9, 10’ after the shirt numbers the trio wore as players. “People laugh at me for the ‘8,9,10’, but it’s because I love you, man. You’re my guys”, Wright said on Sunday’s MOTD.

Wright did not get his fairytale ending as Manchester City romped to their fourth successive title, denying Arsenal a first championship in 20 years. But as the curtain fell on his final show, he did receive a consolation message from his granddaughter during a closing montage. “Hi grandad,” says the girl in a Manchester City shirt. “Well done for doing Match of the Day. But Man City are the best. I love you, you know that.” Succinct, accurate and opinionated, there might be a future in the media for this rising star.

That first MOTD appearance alongside Lynam was way back in 1997, with the then-33-year-old still just about in his pomp at Arsenal, and on his way to the Premier League title that season. “This is my Graceland, Des,” smiles a slightly overawed Wright, as he is introduced. With that in mind, it is not entirely clear why he is leaving the punditry role he has regularly held down since 2017 – explaining in December that it was time to “do a few more different things” – but it can’t have been an easy decision. Whatever Wright does next, even if it’s just kicking a ball in the garden with his granddaughter, it will surely be a brilliant and joyous thing.

“I just wanted to create role models I never had, to create a profession that wasn’t possible. We’ve all been told ‘no’. We’ve all been told ‘it can’t be done’, ‘the boys come first’, ‘it’s a men’s game’. But to think, there’s a final game at Old Trafford, a sell-out at Wembley, England winning the Euros, Arsenal selling out game after game. I think women’s football will explode. It’s already exploding but it’s going to really explode in the next few years and that was all I wanted. I hate naysayers … ‘oh, it’s unrealistic’, ‘it’s going to collapse’, ‘it can’t sustain it’, ‘you can’t invest this money’. And I always think the same thing – why are we so negative about investing in women? I’ve always felt really strongly about women and championing that and giving opportunity, and leaving it in the place that I dreamed about seeing. But I’m done” – Emma Hayes signs off from Chelsea after securing a fifth WSL title on the bounce with a 6-0 romp at Manchester United, meaning final-day despair for Manchester City.

Thanks to our friends at the Guardian Print Shop, we are giving away more David Squires cartoons. To enter, just write us a letter for publication below. We will choose the best of our letter o’ the day winners at the end of each week and that worthy winner will be given a voucher for one of our top, top cartoonist’s prints. And if you’re not successful, you can scan the full archive of David’s cartoons here and then buy your own. Terms and conditions for the competition can be viewed here.

While it is inevitable that at the busy end of the season Football Daily will be preoccupied with the Premier League and Big Cups along with pre Euros knee-knacks, there are happenings elsewhere in the pyramid where crises for clubs can be existential. Since you reported on 23 February that Torquay United owner Clarke Osborne had pulled the plug and was going to put the club into administration (full email edition): on 13 March … TUFC were docked 10 points for an ‘administrative event’ and plunged into a National League South relegation battle; 23 March … Neil Warnock appears at the first of three home matches with fan Michael Westcott; 28 March … a Torquay United Supporters’ Trust (TUST) consortium (led by Westcott) reveal they are bidding to buy the club; 4 April … TUFC goes into administration; 9 April …. TUST/ Westcott consortium discover they are not the preferred bidder; 12 April … TUFC are docked another point for fielding an illegible player (at which point fans throw up their hands in despair); 15 April … TUFC avoid relegation to the Southern League Premier Division South with a win at Taunton in front of 800-plus travelling fans; 26 April … TUST/Westcott consortium discover the preferred bidder might no longer be preferred; 1 May … Westcott’s consortium (now called ‘Bryn’ after the police dog that bit Jim McNichol and saved Torquay from relegation at the end of 1986-87 become the preferred bidder; 10 May … announcement by club that the Bryn Consortium will be the new owners of TUFC; 11 May … Westcott confirms Neil Warnock is on the board as football advisor; 14 May … much circulated video appears with Warnock revealing that Paul Wotton is the new Torquay manager. And so the story goes on (with a Community Share Issue by TUST soon). Just saying” – Bob Cole.

To VAR or not to VAR, that is the question (Friday’s Football Daily). Imagine if we’d always had that wretched slo-mo eye in the sky: England might not have a World Cup, Diego’s ‘Hand of God’ would be consigned to oblivion, Patrick Battiston still wouldn’t have his front gnashers but at least Harald Schumacher would have been sent packing, and Graeme Souness’s career as a part-time crusher of Romanian family planning would have been seriously curtailed. Would we trade these memories for three middle-aged blokes drawing lines in a hut?” – Mark McFadden.

In your photos of the referees’ dressing room/office (Friday’s Memory Lane, full email edition), I can see a banana, some apples, a bit of cheese, and a jug of orange juice, but no sandwiches. Obviously Neale Barry was expecting a visit from Chris Wilder” – Trevor Townson.

I spent a few days riding a bike through the Kimberley in Western Australia. All went well, with the only exception of extreme fatigue and losing my reading glasses. When I peered dimly at my missed Football Daily emails, I rolled my eyes and muttered under my breath: ‘Who the eff wants to win a David Moyes cartoon.’ My cognitive abilities didn’t even stretch to ponder if he was indeed a part-time cartoonist, or what they might possibly be about. I actually would like a Squires one though, thanks” – Andy Collings.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Mark McFadden, who now has the chance to win a David Squires cartoon from our print shop at the end of the week. Terms and conditions for all this can be viewed here.

Jürgen Klopp has gone out on a high after Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolves on Sunday – by dancing on stage at a hotel while John Barnes belted out Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang. Danke, Jürgen. Truly.

Premier League referees can let out a sigh of relief after Roberto De Zerbi announced he was doing one from Brighton, before a rather tepid exit. The Italian says he hasn’t got any job offers yet, either. “Without football, it’s not so easy for me but I will smoke more cigarettes,” puffed the outgoing Brighton boss. “I hope to work but otherwise I will watch 100 games per week.”

David Moyes, meanwhile, has signed off as West Ham manager by revealing that plenty of clubs want a piece of him. “I’ve got some things come to me already but I’m probably not going to take them,” he trilled.

With Chelsea eyeing up Kieran McKenna, Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he’s still in the dark about his future at Stamford Bridge. “I don’t know about the rumours about the review,” he blabbed. “My phone is going to be on.”

Some good news for Arsenal: Jurriën Timber is back, baby.

Aston Villa are planning to go back to the Ross Barkley well.

It tastes like promotion in Oxford, who are Championship-bound courtesy of beating Bolton 2-0 in the League One playoff final. “This club means so much to so many people,” whooped manager Des Buckingham. “I’ve shared this moment, not just with the fans but with most of my family. Put it into words? I simply can’t.”

Maverick appointment of the day: Rapid Bucharest have named Neil Lennon as their new manager. “He comes from a soccer culture, the Anglo-Saxon one, based on seriousness, work, success,” blabbed co-owner Dan Sucu. “A culture where decisions, once made, are no longer commented on or negotiated, but simply implemented.”

And Alexander Sørloth (16 appearances and no goals for Crystal Palace) has entered an alternate reality in which he scored four times in 17 minutes against Real Madrid to secure a 4-4 draw for Villarreal and take himself top of La Liga’s scoring charts.

In the summer of 2022 Crawley had fresh USA USA USA-based owners dubbed the “Crypto bros”, who had promised to build an international fanbase through digital tokens. In the months that followed, rumours were doing the rounds that Preston Johnson and Eben Smith didn’t know how simple things such as substitutions worked and the club soon flirted with relegation as three managers were sent packing by the jumpy pair. Johnson even made an appearance in the dugout for a match at Stevenage prompting headlines that read: “Crypto chaos”. If you listen hard enough you can still hear the echoes of guffaws ringing around parts of England. Fast forward a season and a 2-0 Wembley win over Crewe in the playoff final has only gone and secured them promotion to League One! Who’s laughing now, eh? “I don’t actually think it’s real,” whooped Johnson. “I am not speechless very often in my life. Last year I felt we were stripping the happiness and joy from the fans, so for them to find joy in their club again means the world to me.”

It’s that time again. Our writers on … deep breath … players of the season, managers of the season, goals of the season, matches of the season, signings of the season, young players of the season, flops of the season, gripes of the season, broadcasters of the season and photos of the season. Phew.

The Guardiola supremacy: how Manchester City became too good for their own good. By Jonathan Liew. Speaking of which, here’s Jonathan Wilson on a similar theme.

Barney Ronay watched Arsenal fall short in the title race and then asked the question: how can a team be crowned champions while facing 115 charges?

Jonathan Wilson was at Anfield as fans waved a teary goodbye and thank you to Jürgen Klopp, whose impact at the club went way beyond silverware. And here’s a gallery of his incredible Liverpool career.

Suzy Wrack bids farewell Emma Hayes, a manager who enabled humans to always find a way. Here’s a glittering gallery of her time at Chelsea, too. And Sophie Downey has rated Chelsea’s WSL-winning players so you don’t have to.

Claudio Ranieri’s latest rescue act has cemented his status as a true Cagliari hero, reports Nicky Bandini.

Andy Brassell hails the Bundesliga’s year of the underdog.

And here are the Premier League fans’ verdicts, parts one and two.

It’s time for footballers – not all, commiserations to the flamin’ Melbourne-bound Spurs squad – to kick back and find a beachside inflatable, like Liverpool’s Graeme Souness is doing off Majorca in 1978, with what looks like a copy of Norman Hartley’s The Viking Process in hand.