Its over. The football season. The beginning of the football season is over. First matches all been played. Are the results in any way ‘representative’ of what’s to follow? Do they offer any viable predictive value for the 37 following matches? Or are we in that grey area where the players are still ‘on holiday’ to some extent, others still tired from the World Cup (that’ll be Spurs then) and new managers, new players, not yet bedded in and comfortable with each other. All sorts of variables. Essentially, these are early days for our new and beloved (so far) fledgling season.

Anything can still happen.

Yesterday morning I bumped into West Ham Jezza. He was excited, he was filled to overflowing with the optimism and limitless potential that, for football fans, is only possible before your team has kicked a ball. His team is looking good, he felt, bought a few, sold a few, done a couple of deals, which, being West Ham, means us tax-payers have been screwed again, and he was feeling really good about the new season.

And I love that. Fans are born optimistic and have it beaten systematically from their very souls ever year, only for it to pop up as soon as the last ball of last season has been kicked. As last season ends it automatically pushes the ‘reset’ button of possibilities. And Jezza was really positive. In a ‘no, this season I REALLY feel it could be different’, kind of self-delusion.

They lost 4-0 to Liverpool. A team who were pretty damned good last year and have strengthened their side wisely since.

I am optimistic for my team. We looked on Saturday like a team playing their first game in a while. We looked tired. A bit sluggish. Lacking the energy and stamina we’re normally famous for. But we won. And if you can win when you’re playing at about 60% that’s gotta be good.

I didn’t see the Arsenal game yesterday, I was driving down to Bournemouth to stand on very windy beach with our friends. But Arsenal lost. I managed to acquire that information along the way. And thus, Manchester City won. Arsenal have some new players who the pundits feel didn’t do too well. But neither did Thierry Henry when he arrived there. They have a new manager, their first in over 2 decades, so we’ll cut them some early slack. Though Manchester City look like they’re still in last season mode. Awesome. Devastating. Frightening.

So much to speculate, all of it mere guesswork. So I reckon Spurs will win the league this year, but only if the city of Manchester gets accidentally nuked by North Korea who mistake it for Massachusetts. Arsenal are Corbyn’s team and thus need to be relegated. For the good of the country and the world.

Happy seaside Monday

A xxxx