Spare a thought for fans of Norwich, Derby and Oldham in the flurry of end-of-season jubilation and relief

AMID the end-of-season jubilation, disappointment and relief, there are clubs that fall in my gone-but-not-forgotten category.

I have to start with Norwich, who mounted the old up-and-down seesaw on the downward path into the Championship.

Joint owner Delia Smith and her Canaries are going down for the third time in five seasons, a journey she must enjoy about as much as three helpings of soggy bottom sponge cake.

Then there’s Derby County who tried manfully to avoid relegation to League One.

There’s no way anyone short of Jurgen Klopp or Sam Allardyce who might have overcome a penalty of 21 points — but Wayne Rooney and his players fought til they dropped.

The third team in this doleful bunch are Oldham Athletic, managed by John Sheridan.

The Latics dropped from the Premier League into the National League in 30 years, the first club to do so.

Naturally, the lamenting fans blame owner Abdallah Lemsagam. It goes a lot deeper than that.

Oldham fans will miss a journey to Dover unless they are long-distance lorry drivers with a queue fetish.

Dover notched another depressing record, by the way, with just one point to show for their season’s work after having 12 deducted.

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Points deduction is a questionable punishment. First, players are being blamed generally for sins they did not know they had committed.

Second, points earned on the field should stay on the field and, third, because blameless supporters are also being penalised.

Derby suffered two heavy fines and were docked 21 points, a number that left not so much a mountain to climb as trying to clamber up it blindfold wearing carpet slippers.

The quarter of a million citizens of Derby have a lot to be proud of — Rolls Royce factories, a cathedral, a county cricket club and it was the first place in England to have a public park, which inspired New York’s Central Park.

Yet the love for Derby County FC ranges above these.

Former owner Mel Morris tried his best and went close to ruining himself. But, instead of longed-for promotion to the Premier League, it’s off to League One.

There are many matters to settle, not least the new ownership. And will Rooney stay or leave?

England’s all-time top scorer’s appointment to the Pride Park job looked to be a gamble on a famous past rather than on the promise of a football thinker.

Yet patronising opinions have been shoved down pundits’ throats.

The lad has done good, driving a team of bits and pieces so well that for a few weeks it seemed relegation might be avoided.

The players earned their lap of appreciation. Like being cheered on the way to prison.

Mind you, Rooney’s football task might be a doddle compared with living through his wife’s never-ending ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel tangle.

There are numerous players who will not be forgotten — including our own inestimable captain Mark Noble.

Championship clubs will try to forget promoted Fulham’s 43-goal Serbian slayer Aleksandar Mitrovic.

Also gone is the Champions League title for Man City. Across the city itself there are fewer farewell tears for Paul Pogba.