Only Nine Weeks To Go

It may only be just over 2-weeks since Chelsea lifted the FA Cup, but football fans are already feeling that familiar empty feeling.

That Friday anticipation for the weekend ahead, has been replaced with the mundane predictability of normal life. Barring any unexpected twist on the general rollercoaster of existence, you suddenly pretty much know how you'll be feeling on Monday morning, and what will be the talk of the office, pub or canteen next week.

Yes, it's that time again. The Summer. And worse than that, it's 2009 - an odd numbered year. So where the tunnel of darkness is occasionally lit by a World Cup or European Championship, this year we have nothing.

Sure the U21 European championships are about to get underway, but this is unlikely to defer many fans attention from that date in August when it all begins again. And real football comes back.

And this week we get the first taste. Wednesday morning will bring the release of the fixtures, and with it the first glimpse into the season ahead. Time to start planning the Boxing Day trip to Portsmouth, complaining that the fixture computer's vendetta has given you another tough run in, and concocting the excuse for Auntie Jean's Birthday, your cousin's Wedding and probably your own anniversary (again!).
Yes, it's time to fill the diary past the pre-season appetizer and get stuck in to the main course.

But unfortunately the calendar doesn't lie, and we still have 9-weeks of silly season to go. And whilst our lives CAN survive the emptyness of June and July, unfortunately Newspapers cannot be left blank. Sports media struggle to fill their time with cricket, tennis and Rugby League. They, like us, need football; need something to talk about; need something to happen.

Enter, the TRANSFER WINDOW. Flying in like 'Mighty Mouse' to "Save the Day". Suddenly we can talk again; speculate, argue and discuss. Whos should we sign? Who should we sell? I've heard we're in for him... The possibilities are somehow endless, and like it or not, this is what the next few weeks hold in store, as hundreds of players are linked with clubs from Chelsea to Chesterfield; from Liverpool to Lincoln and from Tottenham to Torquay.

With Real Madrid seemingly set to snap up anyone with a pair of boots, the result will most probably be a kick-start to the speculation, if not the market itself.

After the sale of Ronaldo, Manchester United alone have been no fewer than 19 players in today's papers alone. And you don't have to be much of gambler to risk money on the majority of those stories bearing little truth whatsoever.

But, of course, we gobble them up, it gives us something to discuss; something to follow.

http://www.footballtransferleague.co.uk/ published a list recently of the accuracy of newspaper rumours. Whilst the Guardian came out as the top English paper - recording a success rate of a mere 26%, the News of the World had an almost laughable 11% correct.

So whilst the next few weeks will be filled with dreams of the perfect signing, or dread at the loss of a star, most will not progress beyond the pages of the newspapers they sell. But we have to be thankful for the entertainment and take it for what it is. A poor man's replacement for the season's football debate and our only substitute for the real thing.

So here's to 9 weeks of madness, we hate it, but embrace it! And keep dreaming that those rumours that the next Pele was in your local McDonalds, will eventually result in that longed-for press conference and a new arrival holding the shirt proudly across his chest!