A mixed bag of ramblings

All around, dust gathers...a lone owl screeches in the distance...the single, tired, bell tolls as a ball of tumbleweed rolls by on the limp, deathly breeze. A figure emerges, crawling through the desolation, looking weak, starved and desperate.

It is Pre-Season in the Blogosphere.

A bleak time, a barren time - a time in which to survive is to fight and scrap for every little morsel. Looking for something, anything that is actually interesting enough to write about and keep your loyal band of readers satisfied.

Thankfully, having bided (bade? bode? bidezela'ed?) my time, I've been inspired by a few scraps in the football world, so here, emerging like a shining mirage in this otherwise deserted land, is the latest from Sub Please.

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The Guardian reported that Portsmouth FC have only listed 14 first team players in their squad to take on life in the Championship in a fortnight's time. You might expect a Southampton fan to find this hilarious and indulge in some good old-fashioned schadenfreude - but given the recent tribulations of the Saints it would be short-sighted to do so. Instead, I'm bringing this topic up as a point of debate on another issue.

How in the name of all that is holy does Harry Redknapp get away with it?!

Apparently you can leave a trail of financial devastation behind you at every turn; come out with at-best xenophobic (at worst downright racist) conclusions about foreign players; gain a reputation as a wheeler-dealer by selling something then later buying it back; forge a career in the modern game by 'putting an arm round his shoulder' and look like a melted plastic fish - and no one in the media will bat an eyelid.

Quite how no-one links the mess at West Ham, Southampton and Portsmouth to the one common factor is beyond me and if 'Ol 'Appy 'Arry weren't so 'accomodating to the press, I am certain he would have nowhere near the leeway he does. No doubt that getting Tottenham to fourth place and potentially the promised land of the Champions League was a decent achievement - but let's not kid ourselves, the man spent an absolute fortune in doing it.

All you have to do is make sure the journo lads get a few beers, maybe the odd round of golf, and a few titbits of gossip here and there (but keep it under your hat mate, ya know) and you apparently get away with it.

A foreign manager with the same trail of destruction would have been hounded out of the country years ago. No-one in their right mind advocates the brainless sensationalism of the tabloids, but it would be nice if they turned the focus onto Harry every now and then.

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Yesterday, England's Under 19 side were beaten by Spain, 3-1, in the semi final of the European Championship. No big disgrace, no shame, etc. But the gulf in class should be (and hopefully is) sending shudders through the corridors of the FA. The quality, technique, creativity and invention in the Spanish side is on another planet to the strong physical 'Ave It' approach of the English - and this mirrors the debacle of the senior team in South Africa.

Wake Up.

We are not good enough, we ruin footballers from about age 8 onwards with this insistence on playing on massive pitches and putting such focus on winning games.

If something is not put in place now to encourage a new approach, a wave of new coaches, and an altogether different outlook on how and why football should be played; as Jimmy Hill famously once said, 'We'll go on getting bad results'
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Is it just me, or is this the most boring transfer talk Summer ever? Where are the bombshells, the how on Earth did they get him shocks, the 'OMG I so totally can't believe he just did that' moves to bitter rivals? Surely the Premier League needs something spectacular to happen, to drum up some enthusiasm for the new season after the World Cup hangover.

Use the comments below to predict your biggest Summer shock. I'm going for a Rooney/Torres swap deal...