Sheffield United and Huddersfield meet in the League One play-off final at Wembley on Saturday battling for the last place in the second tier after West Ham secured their exit last weekend with a win over Blackpool.
Whichever of the Yorkshire rivals makes it into the Championship they will both expect to give good accounts of themselves next season, being well-run clubs with experienced managers.
Alongside Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton the promoted trio look a lot stronger than financially-stricken Portsmouth and fellow crisis club Coventry who were both relegated alongside a Doncaster Rovers side that had been punching above their weight.
Reading, Southampton and West Ham were all strong sides who were a cut above the rest of the division over 46 games in 2011/12 but the three who replace them may not be as strong.
Wolves are financially secure but may suffer from the dismal end to their time in the top-flight as the gamble of sacking Mick McCarthy failed miserably.
Blackburn Rovers remain in limbo both on and off the field while Bolton have kept faith in Owen Coyle but may need to offload some of their best players this summer.
For Forest, who avoided relegation only in the final few weeks of the season, the task posed by other teams is more than matched by that posed by their own financial uncertainty as new owners of the club seem to be still a long way away, hampering Steve Cotterill's attempts to not only sign new players but keep his current squad together.