JULES BREACH: Crystal Palace, Spurs and Arsenal Women showed that clubs who dare to dream really can defy the odds and enjoy success

If fans ever needed a season to remind them that their year could be just around the corner, then 2024-25 was the one. It was a celebration for the underdog. A campaign in which clubs starved of success finally got their day.

Crystal Palace, Spurs, Newcastle, Arsenal Women, Bologna, Aberdeen and Stuttgart all have one thing in common – defying the odds to clinch long-awaited silverware. Regardless of who you support, it was pretty special to see the fans and people connected to all of these teams get their moment in the spotlight.

One of the biggest surprises was Palace’s FA Cup victory. It was the club’s first major honour. At the start of the season, no one would have predicted them as FA Cup winners. To put it into perspective, since 1995, it was only the fourth time a team not in the ‘Big Six’ had lifted the trophy.

Palace have been a fairly stable Premier League club for some time, but this was finally the year they made their mark. They stunned the football world with their final defeat of Manchester City, and it was what they deserved.

Led by the impressive Oliver Glasner, in his first full season in charge, they put in some outstanding displays on their way to lifting precious silverware. It also meant that they qualified for the Europa League, albeit with some red tape to be overcome before playing European football for the first time. As a Brighton fan, as painful as it is to say, well done, Palace. An incredible achievement.

Tottenham faced Manchester United in the Europa League final and, in a match that epitomised two sub-standard seasons, Spurs’ celebrations made up for the game’s lack of entertainment. It was their first major trophy since they lifted the 2008 League Cup, and the relief of that long wait was felt in Bilbao’s stadium after the final whistle.

I was on the pitch for TNT Sports to interview the Spurs players. Match-winner Brennan Johnson quite rightly told me, “We got it done”, after explaining how much the club get “battered” for never winning anything. Not only did they put that ridicule to bed, but victory also meant that they qualified for the Champions League after a 17th-place league finish, just one above relegation.

Having done what many bosses before him couldn’t, Ange Postecoglou was then sacked 16 days later. The Australian entertained us with his football and his headlines. He leaves after delivering on his promise of winning a trophy in his second season. He will forever be in the Spurs history books.

Newcastle ended their 56-year trophy drought by beating Premier League champions Liverpool to win the League Cup. March’s 2-1 Wembley win was the first time the Magpies had bagged silverware since the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, or even longer if you count only domestic trophies, with the 1955 FA Cup the last they lifted in England. Following defeat to Manchester United two years ago, Alexander Isak and Dan Burn ensured that this was Newcastle’s time.

One of the country’s most passionate fanbases painted Wembley black and white, and filled the streets of Newcastle when the team paraded that long-awaited trophy. Eddie Howe’s side finished off a memorable campaign by clinching Champions League football on the final day of the season.

Arsenal went into the Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona as huge underdogs. The Spanish champions had won three of the past four European titles, and are the women’s game’s dominant force. Yet Arsenal brushed that aside to shock Barça and win their first continental crown title in 18 years. Bedlam in Lisbon and north London respectively. Phenomenal.

Aberdeen ended their 35-year wait to clinch the Scottish Cup after their dramatic win over Celtic on penalties. Elsewhere, Bologna beat Milan in the Coppa Italia, securing their first trophy in 51 years. Though Stuttgart were favourites in the German Cup final against third-tier Arminia Bielefeld, the victory was the club’s first trophy in 18 years.

Just one of these underdog wins would be something to shout about, but that they all achieved such success in the same year is quite extraordinary. More of that magic next season, please.