After what seems like a lifetime, the football season is finally upon us. For those of us lucky/unlucky enough to be addicted to football, this summer has been dry. And I’m not just talking about the weather.
It’s an odd numbered year, which means there’s (barely) any football on TV this summer. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Squat. No World Cup, no European Championships and not even the lame Olympics football event. These are the summers where we usually challenge our pent up footballing aggression into other sports such as Cricket, Rugby, Tennis or Cycling. Sure, we got behind Andy Murray and cheered him on during his momentous victory at Wimbledon, and we celebrated (albeit very briefly) Chris Froome winning the Tour de France, but let’s be real with ourselves – in hindsight, they didn’t quite hit the spot. They didn’t scratch that itch.
This season feels like it could be an unpredictable one. The departure of Sir Alex Ferguson towards the end of last season and the appointment of David Moyles, means that Manchester United for the first time in 26 years are facing change. Then at the other extreme, Chelsea welcome the return of the self proclaimed ‘Special One’ and media darling, Jose Mourinho. Can lightning strike twice or will it be like going back to an old girlfriend – it sounds like a good idea at first but then you remember why you broke up in the first place…
Away from the managers, the pre-season has been consumed by the fate of three guys: Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez. Never has so much been said and yet (at the time of writing) nothing has happened!
So as we all, get ready for the first matches and prepare our fantasy football teams, based on nothing more than media hype, speculation and a ‘hunch’, let us all rejoice that normality has returned to our Saturday afternoons and we can breathe a sigh of relief. Bring on the Premier League! *whistles the Match of the Day theme tune*
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