The £160m celebration
Tom Cairney is mobbed by team-mates after scoring the goal that put Fulham in the Premier League at Aston Villa’s expense.
Premier League football will be back by the river next season as Fulham scooped the £160 million ticket to the top flight.
A solitary goal from captain Tom Cairney in the first half settled this nail-biting final before they withstood serious pressure after the break to take the 20th and final spot.
The two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and the London giants will all be returning to Craven Cottage, while Villa have to contemplate another slog in the second tier.
The two sides had finished one place apart in the Championship table with Fulham gaining five more points and scoring seven more goals.
They could have gone up automatically but suffered their only league defeat post-Christmas at the worst possible moment to Birmingham on the final day as Cardiff claimed that runners-up spot behind Wolves.
Yet the Cottagers have won many friends with their stylish passing game, headed by teenage sensation Ryan Sessegnon.
He only turned 18 eight days ago, but he didn’t miss a single one of Fulham’s 46 league games and two play-off semi-finals with Derby.
The left-back has become a left winger and with 16 goals under his belt, it’s no surprise the biggest clubs in the land are eyeing this special talent.
With Sessegnon in the ranks, owner Shahid Khan, the man who recently launched an audacious bid to buy Wembley, had admitted to big plans if his club was to secure promotion.
For Villa, it was a question of returning to the place where they feel they belong.
This match came 36 years to the day since the greatest in the club’s history when they beat Bayern Munich to become European Champions.
Manager Steve Bruce has had to pick up the pieces since their horrendous relegation season of two years ago and has restored pride to the club.
The Villa boss is no stranger to promotion having twice guided both Birmingham and Hull to the Premier League.
But this year’s efforts had been played out against personal heartache for the 57-year-old.
Bruce has lost father, Joe, and mother, Sheenagh, in the space of three months but still managed to lead Villa to this winner-takes-all fixture.
Fulham dominated possession from the off as they passed and probed with Villa content to harry and make life difficult.
In James Chester’s case, that was a little too much as he was booked for going through the back of Aleksandr Mitrovic.
But the final came to life as, midway through the half, the Cottagers went ahead with a goal of real class.
Sessegnon showed excellent control from Stefan Johansen’s pass, rode a challenge in midfield, before slipping the ideal pass between ex-England skipper John Terry and left-back Alan Hutton.
There was captain Cairney running on to it, to slide a calm finish past Sam Johnstone in the Villa goal.
Minutes after the goal though, there was a big escape for the London outfit. Ryan Fredericks appeared to stamp on Jack Grealish, but nothing was given.
Bruce, standing two yards away on the touchline, was furious.
Fulham were looking confident and they nearly added a second when the ball reached Sessegnon at the back post, but he headed straight at Johnstone.
The closest Villa came to any sort of response was from a cleverly worked free-kick as Robert Snodgrass picked out Grealish’s smart run, but he couldn’t keep his volley down from eight yards.
Grealish had an even better chance five minutes after the restart when he arrived ahead of goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli to Albert Adomah’s cross, but headed over.
Urged on by their vociferous support including the Duke of Cambridge, Villa were more purposeful and Conor Hourihane flashed a dangerous ball across goal.
Grealish was at the heart of it and he nearly produced a sensational equaliser as he dribbled past three men only to be denied by Bettinelli.
He then appealed for a penalty when his volley struck the arm of Denis Odoi and was booked seconds later for a very poor challenge on Cairney.
Stefan Johansen could have sealed Fulham’s promotion after more excellent work from Sessegnon but the Norwegian lost his composure at the vital moment and blazed over.
Soon after, they were reduced to 10 men when Odoi was sent off for a second yellow after a wild challenge on who else but Grealish.
Fulham were forced to regroup but Villa couldn’t find that crucial goal and after five minutes of injury time, the final whistle was greeted with ecstasy by everyone in white