SOUL SURMISE

FANTASY LEAGUE WEEK 1 - THE SURMISE

So the first weekend of Fantasy League is over and I am happy with a very solid start. My daughter Jasmine on the other hand leads almost all of the leagues she is in. apart from the Fitzroy League. More of that.

What to do now is the question? Every year I scream “No Quick Reactions”. Give it a week or two for everything to settle. A look at this week’s stats would have everybody rubbing to sign City’s Rodri. A goal and an assist but he is £5.5 for a reason. He is a defensive midfielder. Mind you he scored in the Champions League Final too.

An injury to John Stones was a big disappointed to many including myself BUT again be careful of quick over reactions. 

I have my own issues. I got “lucky”. Two of my strikers started on the bench but came off that bench to score. I immediately wonder if Brighton’s Ferguson should be changed to team mate Pedro and Callum Wilson should give way to Isak. I am going to show patience and wait and see…

So what is happening across my main 3 Leagues.

 

FITZROY LEAGUE

Stephen Orr has not threatened for a year or two though I always watch him as I rate him highly. A dormant volcano like his precious Arsenal. Orr takes the an early 7 point lead with 91points, a little lucky because his first choice keeper Verbruggen didn’t start for Brighton and Leno his substitute was the highest scoring keeper with 12 points. 

My opinion is that subs should only score half their points because Stephen shouldn’t be awarded for a bad judgement in his first choice team BUT that’s only me and a statistical nightmare!

Just behind Orr’s team, Old Havertz Kai Hard (nice), there is another Orr, his teenage son Isaac in 6th, two Stockies, Jasmine and my fortunate self. As expected John McMullan, perennial winner and Jonny Fitch after an atrocious season are the rest of the Top 6 with steady starts.

 

FACEBOOK PUNTERS

My daughter Jasmine with a team name on the cutting edge of the Women’s World Cup, Earps, I Did It Again, has a 4 point lead with 84 points. An impressive start, she leads Neil Sedgewick and Steve Pointon by 4. 

McMullan, Andrew Patterson and I are another point back and the dangerous Dave Magee just one off us. 

 

ONLY AN EXCUSE HEAD TO HEAD LEAGUE

The head to head league is a whole other skill. I even wondered about playing a different team in this one. The biggest issue for me is do I risk two transfers in one week to lose 4 points. I can kind of justify that in a points league but in head to head those 4 points could be crucial.

Head to Head is also about luck in that you might have the second best score in the league and lose your game having 40 points more than the second worst team who beat the worst team and end up 3 points better than you.

There wasn't much drama in my friend Stuart’s Head To Head. This is a league of 15 teams from Scotland, Nepal, New Zealand, Czech and Northern Ireland. A steady start with wins for all the expected clubs on the statistics for the past few years. However, newcomer Jasmine again sits at the top of the pile, on points difference.

The only shock was Ross, who is usually hard to beat, taking an early defeat, his Sporting Esemi losing to Naveen’s Kathmandu FC 78-77. Ouch! Naveen did have Rodri!!! Ross would have taken the points had he played Chilwell instead of Shaw. These are the breaks.

 

So on wee all move. Changes? Oh they will be needed but I’ll be taking my time to see who plays every week, who gets transferred to who, where the cheap points scorers appear from and will Liverpool’s defence make Alexander-Arnold more valuable than Salah.

Blessed providence in the weekend ahead everyone! 

 

FANTASY LEAGUE EVE

It is a big and stressful day for millions of us. Teams need picked for the opening day of a new season of Fantasy League.

Today millions will be working out who they can buy for their £100 million budget. How many big players can we afford. Is Haaland who we know will score just too much money. What are the cheap players that are going to come through? Should I skimp on my defence for big goal scorers? Some seasons defenders do better. After a bad season is Alexander-Arnold worth 8 million. Will new signings fit in quickly? What about players from promoted teams? Do you go for players with easy opening games or get ready for the long haul?

Of course it is a marathon not a sprint and for most Fantasy League managers their teams will bear little resemblance even in October to the team they choose tomorrow evening. 

However, there still be some panic. A good start is better than a bad one though it is amazing how quickly the team at the top of your particular league on Sunday night might drop away within a few weeks.

With one free transfer per week and then every additional transfer per week costing 4 valuable points it is best to have a good steady team at the outset. You do not want to have to play your Wildcard too soon. Is Week 3 too soon!?!

Of course, there is some luck in this game. One of the biggest factors is choosing the right captain every week as their points double. It might be luck that my player scores a hat trick and yours doesn’t score at all. That might happen week after week!

BUT let me say that as I have followed this game for some 15 years and been involved in a Fitzroy league for 10 that the winner at the start of May will have little to do with luck.

As I look at our league I know that reigning champion John will be there as sure as Pep rarely has a trophy less season. Will Alastair compete like he did last season? In my friend's Head To Head league it'll be Stuart, Adela and Ross as sure as our beloved Strathspey Thistle won't win a game in the Highland League! The cream they say always comes to the top. I’ve watched it season after season.

I had an alright season last time BUT ended up winning 3 cups on the last day, two that I didn't know about until hey were won. Like the real game cups whether Carabao, FA or Champions League are tin pot. Luck is needed. Too much depends on freak 90 minute games, some freak injury time minutes. So, it is the league I want. 

So as a religious practice, I am going to start with a solid spine. Big names who have proven themselves, at the core. No new whizz players. They might take time though Haaland only needed a pass from Kevin last season! 

Then who will be the differentials as we call them. The surprise big scorer at 5 million. That usually takes time to know. 

If you can spot those cheap big scorers by tomorrow night then you’ll give yourself a great start! Anthony Elanga or James McAtee anyone?!

THOUGHTS ON A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

I am up with a little excitement this morning. Champions League Final.

Now, we’ve been here before. Only two years ago. BUT the only thing I remember about that entire night is checking the team sheet and knowing that Pep’s over thinking had cost us our first Champions League. Everything else, including my pain - blank!

Pep is a genius but he had a weakness - over thinking. Gladly I think it is gone. Gone because I think he now believes in his team as they are. That first half against Real Madrid showed just how good.

So, I am excited. Maybe, if we could win this big European trinket, it would get all the “you need to win the Champions League to be great” off our backs. 

Here’s the thing. Five Premier Leagues in six years is a statement of greatness. Champions Leagues are knock out games. I have watched Liverpool win it in a year that they didn’t even finish in the top 4 of their own league. I have watched City out play Real Madrid for 180 minutes and two minutes of Madrid madness knock us out.

It can all be done on a little luck on the right night. A ball into the box that ricochets back and touches Jack Grealish’s fingertips has a chance of deciding where the cup goes. So though it is the strongest knock out cup, that is what it is. Give me the Premiership every time.

Now, there is a way for it to still be special. Not by winning it when you finish 5th in your league. The best way to win the Champions League is when you are clearly champions of your own league and throw an FA Cup in too. United have won this treble. It is an ‘icing on the top of the cake’ Cup. So, this is the year to win it.

Surely, with this team, this is our time. Let’s hope there’s no luck involved.

Some will then bring up middle eastern money and fair play rules. Oh I wish they were not always hanging over us. I could talk about how it is everywhere. Check the golf this week. Or check all our UK economic systems and Saudi money will not talk but swear as Dylan once said. Football like our western society is run with unaccountable capitalism. I wish other wise. 

Yes, I wish we were back in the innocent 60s and 70s and everybody had the same chance. We are not. These are different days. Massive investment is needed from somewhere. So, I will say yes that I struggle with the money BUT I do not believe that we have bought any trophies. Other clubs have spent billions and failed. 

I am however less exuberant about our victories. The Premiership and the FA Cup went by. Even people in Church were thrown by my not mentioning it. On social media I will not over do celebrations. I will not poke fun at other teams. A simple photo of the team with the trophy is all I have been doing. Part of that is to do with the financial tainting. Part of it is that I hate all that so called bragging fun!

So, I am never confident in a knock out match but tonight I am. We seem unbeatable just now. It is surely our time to get this one done before they say that we need five or six of them to be great. It would be that icing on another great season. 

If it is not to be I hope I lose my disappointment as quickly as 2021 and I’ll be more than happy with a fifth title in six and an FA Cup Double. 

The truth is… that Aguero moment in 2012. That was enough. The Sawdoctors have a song called To Win Just Once. It would have been enough for a team that waited so long. Ask West Ham fans! BUT… ask them if they’d like a treble and they’d not turn you down. 

Come on City!

FANTASY LEAGUE - SUNDAY GLORIOUS SUDAY

Sunday saw my most successful Fantasy League day in almost twenty five years of effort. The way the day unfolded says as much about how Fantasy League works.

Let me take you back three weeks. One of the leagues I prioritised in the 5 leagues I was involved with was the Only And Excuse head to head league. Though there was only 11 FL points between the top 4, I was 26 head to head points behind Adela the League Champion. I actually ended the season with more points than Adela but in head to head… luck?!?!

Well, luck I say. Three games from the end of the season something strange happened. We were not being told who our next opponent was… and then… then the league suddenly broke into a Play Off tournament between the top 8 clubs. Stuart pressed a wrong button somewhere at the start. He wasn’t pleased. I was delighted!

Now I had a chance to win from 26 points back. Quarter Final win, good draw in the Semi and last Sunday I am playing my good mate Tim, Janice’s cousin who lives with us, in the Final. 

My favourite real life manager Pep caused me to feel that I needed to concede at kick off when he rested my 3 City players including my captain Haaland. Our mate Stuart, admin of the league, pointed out on Whatsapp that Tim had seven players not playing and me, only five. I suddenly realised that Tim had players rested too and that subs would now be vital.

All my subs started but getting clean sheets from Tarkowski and Pinnock seemed slim. With 15 minutes to go it was all to play for but I had concluded that I needed City to draw 0-0 to give 6 points for both Raya and Pinnock in Brentford’s goal and defence. 

Then Kane scored, as my vice captain I’d double that. Tim was Triple captaining Salah who somehow was only grabbing an assist as Liverpool scored 4! Just as it was looking good and I was dreading a City goal (we’ve won the league!!!) Pinnock scores!!! It is mine! 82-52 in the end. My first ever silverware!

BUT… wait. On the morning of the last day I got a message from James Hume. James is part of my Facebook Pundits League. I was 5th overall in that league, James finishing 20 points ahead of me in 3rd. His message was that never mind the United-City FA Cup Final next week, we were head to head in the Facebook Pundits Cup Final. I knew nothing about this. What Cup? Two Cup Finals in one day and you’ve guessed it Harry Kane and Ethan Pinnock give me an 82-34 win. 

So, if these leagues had cups maybe the MK HitARyan Dons League had one too. They did and I won that 82-42 against Richard Armitage.

One Sunday - 3 Cup wins. A Stocki Treble. Treble? Who said Treble!

To be fair my 82 points was the highest score in any league that I was entered in. My last few weeks were strong to win Semis and Quarters BUT the skill that I do believe you need also needs a huge lump of luck. Who’d have thought that City resting players would allow my subs to play and that my third sub would score against City and that goal with a clean sheet would give me 15 points. 

That’s Fantasy League. I’ll miss it for three months. I love that luck, the signings, watching what my mates do and adding points over the weekend. I need to congratulate John McMullen who won the Fitzroy League and Cup double and the Facebook Pundit League a distance ahead of runner up Rodney McCain. Also well done Constantin Albot in the MK HitARyan Dons league beating me by over a 100 into second place.

John McMullen is the other side of FL. This man is not lucky to win the Fitzroy Double after winning the league last year too. He finished 11,814 overall. In a league of 11 million that is extraordinary. I was happy jumping in til the top 500,000! To win year after year shows that skill over hauls luck in some quarters. Shout out too to Alastair Beacom for finishing runner up in the Fitzroy League. Nearly caught you bro. Well done!

Now… how much Haaland next season?!  

 

Sunday saw my most successful Fantasy League day in almost twenty five years of effort. The way the day unfolded says as much about how Fantasy League works.

Let me take you back three weeks. One of the leagues I prioritised in the 5 leagues I was involved with was the Only And Excuse head to head league. Though there was only 11 FL points between the top 4, I was 26 head to head points behind Adela the League Champion. I actually ended the season with more points than Adela but in head to head… luck?!?!

Well, luck I say. Three games from the end of the season something strange happened. We were not being told who our next opponent was… and then… then the league suddenly broke into a Play Off tournament between the top 8 clubs. Stuart pressed a wrong button somewhere at the start. He wasn’t pleased. I was delighted!

Now I had a chance to win from 26 points back. Quarter Final win, good draw in the Semi and last Sunday I am playing my good mate Tim, Janice’s cousin who lives with us, in the Final. 

My favourite real life manager Pep caused me to feel that I needed to concede at kick off when he rested my 3 City players including my captain Haaland. Our mate Stuart, admin of the league, pointed out on Whatsapp that Tim had seven players not playing and me, only five. I suddenly realised that Tim had players rested too and that subs would now be vital.

All my subs started but getting clean sheets from Tarkowski and Pinnock seemed slim. With 15 minutes to go it was all to play for but I had concluded that I needed City to draw 0-0 to give 6 points for both Raya and Pinnock in Brentford’s goal and defence. 

Then Kane scored, as my vice captain I’d double that. Tim was Triple captaining Salah who somehow was only grabbing an assist as Liverpool scored 4! Just as it was looking good and I was dreading a City goal (we’ve won the league!!!) Pinnock scores!!! It is mine! 82-52 in the end. My first ever silverware!

BUT… wait. On the morning of the last day I got a message from James Hume. James is part of my Facebook Pundits League. I was 5th overall in that league, James finishing 20 points ahead of me in 3rd. His message was that never mind the United-City FA Cup Final next week, we were head to head in the Facebook Pundits Cup Final. I knew nothing about this. What Cup? Two Cup Finals in one day and you’ve guessed it Harry Kane and Ethan Pinnock give me an 82-34 win. 

So, if these leagues had cups maybe the MK HitARyan Dons League had one too. They did and I won that 82-42 against Richard Armitage.

One Sunday - 3 Cup wins. A Stocki Treble. Treble? Who said Treble!

To be fair my 82 points was the highest score in any league that I was entered in. My last few weeks were strong to win Semis and Quarters BUT the skill that I do believe you need also needs a huge lump of luck. Who’d have thought that City resting players would allow my subs to play and that my third sub would score against City and that goal with a clean sheet would give me 15 points. 

That’s Fantasy League. I’ll miss it for three months. I love that luck, the signings, watching what my mates do and adding points over the weekend. I need to congratulate John McMullen who won the Fitzroy League and Cup double and the Facebook Pundit League a distance ahead of runner up Rodney McCain. Also well done Constantin Albot in the MK HitARyan Dons league beating me by over a 100 into second place.

John McMullen is the other side of FL. This man is not lucky to win the Fitzroy Double after winning the league last year too. He finished 11,814 overall. In a league of 11 million that is extraordinary. I was happy jumping in til the top 500,000! To win year after year shows that skill over hauls luck in some quarters. Shout out too to Alastair Beacom for finishing runner up in the Fitzroy League. Nearly caught you bro. Well done!

Now… how much Haaland next season?!  

SURMISING UNITED 2 CITY 1...

Gutted. Obviously.

I’ll be honest I would have taken the nil nil but once Jack scored it was there for City to go on and win. Sadly over recent years City have seen these scenarios as games to sit back and see out. It is a frustrating tactic when you have De Bruyne and Haaland on your Fantasy League teams but its even worse when you end up losing all three points. Pep has finally paid for it.

There were many worries on display today for us City fans. We haven’t got up to our levels since the World Cup break. We aren’t reading passes and seem to need an extra touch. We haven’t found that final burst of speed. To be fair we are always a little rusty after the summer break. It is much more costly though post World Cup break. I thought Arsenal might struggle to get back to November levels. Not a bit of it. By the time City get up to speed it might be too late.

Erling Haaland? Has he been found out? He arrived as a breath of brilliant air. He was seemingly impossible to play against. Check out his post World Cup stats and his averages don’t look so good. Is that because he had too long a break without playing in the World Cup? Or is it because his team mates are not firing? Or have teams now watched, studied and worked out how to keep him out of the game? Time will tell.

Someone asked me where the City fight was? My quick answer was that he now manages Burnley but it might be a question for Pep to ask. When United equalised where was the leader to steady the ship and rally the troops. We perhaps don’t need Diaz as we used to as a centre half. Maybe we miss him most as a leader on the pitch.

Arsenal now have an open invite to win the League. Wins against Spurs tomorrow and United next Sunday and it is hard to see them being caught but they could lose both. If they win both games City need to turn their focus to finishing top 4. If they lose both then United are in the title race!

If I look across the City, United are very much back. Ten Haag was a great appointment and getting rid of Christiano was his toughest but best decision. Fernandes is flowing freely again. He has also got players like Rashford and Shaw back to their best. Casemiro has given a foundation to the midfield and they have players like Garnacho and Anthony to bring off the bench when you need a game changer. United fans should rightfully be refilling their confidence. Trophies are within grasp!

The only encouragement for City today was United fans response. I was getting the banter that I gave to them in the 80s and 90s when our only win that seemed to mean anything was against United. So, are United back/ You’ll know when you don’t overreact to a derby win! 

Enjoy though. I remember when we enjoyed in the same way. Remember that 5-1 in 1989. Enjoy it like that. Soon, it will still be important but not that important!

Oh, the goal? Well if Rashford with the ball at his feet in front of Emerson, shaping to shoot, is not interfering with Ederson’s then I don’t know what "interfering with a player” means? If it was technically right then the technicals need changed. Having said that… well left Marcus… well finished Bruno… well scunnered me! 

QATAR WORLD CUP - WE WANT TO SEE IT BUT NOT LOOK

My daughter is at the University Of Reading and has got involved in the Women’s Soccer Club. The Lionesses have made football very popular. So, I was asking her if she was going to be watching the World Cup. She told me that the University Students Union had made a decision to not support the World Cup though she might see it in a couple of the bars. 

So, just months after the national joy of the Lionesses an English University is not showing the England Group games. It was a fascinating indicator of the messiness of the Qatar World Cup. We might want to see it but no one wants to look.

Human rights. Workers rights. LGBT rights. Our western liberal values are suddenly face to face with very middle eastern ones. We are uneasy. We are outraged. Universities are taking a stand.

About ten years ago, FIFA lost the run of itself. Russia 2018. Look where that country is now. Qatar 2022. Surely all the issues before us were foreseen but ignored at the modern day’s golden calf - riches is the bottom line. 

The world knew that something had gone amiss. The world knew that there were dodgy dealings. The world knew that this would be fraught with stupidity, corruption and injustice but the world let it get to this.

Many will rightfully call out the hypocrite in me. A Manchester City fan, glowing in a decade of success after 40 years of misery. That success has been aided big time with Middle East investment. Human rights in question again. I don’t lie. It sits uneasy.

Of course, we only have to look at our own hypocrisy as the tournament began. One minute pontificating against Qatar and the next celebrating joyously a Saudi Arabia’s goal and shock win against Argentina. The football has us distracted already from our morale compass!

Even England hosting the 1966 World Cup, all the way back then, should maybe have come into question. It was just coming out of a period of history where they stuck flags all across the globe and pillaged the resources and people of many many nations in gleeful colonialism. Rule Britannia! 

We might look back at all of that as history but let us not forget that in this past year the UK has attempted to send refugees to Rwanda. It sits more than uneasy.

Maybe Jesus refrain about our judgements being like planks and specs in our own and others eyes needs prayed over. 

Maybe we should consider that God didn’t boycott planet earth when its residents were miscreants. Jesus moved in among us. 

Maybe Jesus first sermon about liberation should be considered not only just at the World Cup and not only in Qatar but all around us.

SACK IAN BARACLOUGH? - I SURMISE

It was predictable that Northern Ireland soccer team manager Ian Baraclough's head would be dangerously close to the chopping block this morning. 

It was a dismal display from Northern Ireland  in Greece last night. Bleak.  After a wonderful comeback against Kosovo at Windsor Par, at the weekend, hopes were high but that was as lethargic a performance as I have ever seen from a Northern Ireland in a while. Even our quality players like Stevie Davis and Jonny Evans seemed out of sorts.

BUT wait... before we sack Baraclough let us understand this Nations League thing. Or maybe understand how little we understand it! 

This relatively new competition came into the football calendar to give some meaning to friendly matches. If truth be told it was so that in becoming more competitive international games would perhaps gain a bigger TV audience. A competitive match between Northern Ireland and Kosovo might gain more interest than just a friendly. Understood.

What we then need to do is to understand what this does to the development of a team. 

The big two international competitions are the World Cup and the Euros. Both of these are played over two years. Just six years ago Northern Ireland reached the Round 16 of the Euros. It was obvious after that tournament that a rebuild was in order.

Now... this is where the Nations League becomes a distraction. In the pre Nations League days there would have been ample friendlies to blood young players, try different formations, developing and blending a team together. 

I think that Ian Baraclough has used the Nations League to do that because he had no other friendly options and is feeling the grief from fans because suddenly they haven't just lost a friendly to Greece in a time of transition and experimentation but almost got relegated from a division in a tournament that hasn't really caught anyone's imagination.

So, maybe go easy on Baraclough until the real Euros begin. That is where he should be judged.

I will be honest. It doesn't look good. Players like Saville, McCann and Whyte haven't maybe developed as well as we had hoped. Steven Davis cannot have long left and it is hard to see who fills that gap. Jonny Evans too though defensively we seem stronger. Conor Bradley is surely the brightest light in a while.

It is not Ian Baraclough's fault that Northern Irish parents haven't birthed many great footballers in the last 25 years. It might be that there is someone who can get more out of what we might have or not have than Baraclough. However, to make bad results in the Nations League as a reason for change might be wrong, in my surmising.

 

MARY PETERS GOLD MEDAL - 50 YEARS - PERSONAL SURMISE

It is impossible to get through this weekend without a blog on Mary Peters. 

Fifty years since that amazing evening in Munich when she became the only Northern Irish person to win a solo gold medal at the Olympic Games. 

I remember it so well. The personal bests, particularly the high jump. Fearing Heidi Rosenthal’s long jump. That last race. “Run the race of your life Mary!” And then… that seemingly long long wait, Mary and Ann Wilson watching the screen, before… jumping into my excited mother’s arms and almost knocking her tooth out!

I was 10. I had only just started P7. I was just discovering Donny Osmond and T. Rex. Yet I was in the zone for the Olympics. I even remember getting up early to watch the Mexico Olympics as a 6 year old. 

My parents were athletes. The big clock on our mantle piece was a wedding gift from the Ballymena Athletics Club. My dad was disappointed he didn’t make the 1958 Commonwealth Games. My mum even claims to have been in a relay team with Mary Peters.

Two years before Munich we had great seats at the 1970 Commonwealth Games when before the hurdles race in the pentathlon my mum shouted down at her and Mary looked up and answered. Colour the son impressed.

As a ten year old my sporting views of my wee home country were a little askew. George Best was the best footballer in the world and Willie John McBride one of the best Rugby players. At those 1970 Commonwealth’s I has watched Mike Bull win a gold medal in the pole vault! I foolishly thought it would always be this way!

I was too young to make comment on how Mary’s gold medal lifted a country at the height of the Troubles. I do know though that that historical night in Munich was a very special one in our house and my memory. I have so enjoyed celebrating it. Thank you Mary!

MY FANTASY LEAGUE ANGST ON PREMIERSHIP EVE...

Premiership-eve. The day we have waited for since mid May. It is a big and stressful evening for millions of us. Teams need picked for the opening day of a new season of Fantasy League.

For weeks I have been working out how to maximise my £100 million budget. 

How many big players can we afford. What are the cheap players that are going to come through? Over the past few years the big scorers have become defenders when at the genesis of Fantasy League you always needed goal scorers. 

So where do I invest? Will new signings fit in quickly? What about players from promoted teams? 

Of course it is a marathon not a sprint and my Fantasy League Team will bear little resemblance even in October to the team I will begin with tomorrow evening. 

However, a good start is better than a bad one though it is amazing how quickly the team at the top of your particular League this Sunday night might drop away within a few weeks.

I am a believer in starting solid. I will choose players who have proved themselves in the past couple of years. I will have to risk with my cheaper purchases but as little as possible. 

Of course, there is some luck in this game. One of the biggest factors is choosing the right captain every week as their points double. It might be luck that my player scores a hat trick and yours doesn’t score at all. That might happen week after week!

BUT let me say that as I have followed this game for some 15 years and been involved in a Fitzroy League for 10 that the final standings will have little to do with luck.

As I look at our league I know that reigning champion Jonny Fitch, Jude Holohan and John McMullen, who blew us away last season, will be the big 3 to beat. Isaac Orr, who I baptised about 12 years ago will be setting his sights on the top 3 too. Like cream the same names always come to the top season after season and David Hall is lurking!

Last season was a good one for me and a good start was vital to that. The biggest questions are how many £11.5 players you want to try to sneak in. My questions are about whether Haaland will hit the Premiership running? Will Salah be as great as ever? Are De Bruyne and Son as good for a million pound less? Oh and there are other questions about Eriksen, Diaz, Grealish, Foden and Maddison?

Then it is what formation? Five defenders? Three Strikers? Who to make captain? 

I took a rush of blood last night and changed 5 or 6 players before thinking better of it. This is the night to double doubt. “Solid Steve". You said “Solid”. 

Cannot wait to see your team tomorrow night! 

Bring it on!

THE LIONESSES - EURO WINNERS AND CULTURE SHIFTERS

I don't cry a lot but I cry a lot at sport.

I don't weep in defeat but in victory I can literally cry my lamps out. It is not necessarily a team I support. Actually it is more often an individual, very often times athletics.

It is a strange quirk, not my only one by any means (!!!), but I often wonder when I am crying for some Jamaican athlete who has just won a 100m Olympic final why my eyes flood. My parents were athletes and I grew up around sport - they also played rugby, soccer, hockey, table tennis and latterly golf. Something in my nurture causes joy to erupt from my inner being when I watch someone achieve that moment.

So, yesterday I was weeping freely when the Lionesses won the Euros. Every new interview. Chloe Kelly running off with the mic to sing Sweet Caroline mid interview!! Tears.

Now, there is the first thing about these Lionesses. I stopped trying to count the number of Irish friends who confessed to cheering them on.

Anybody But England is our usual posture not because we don't like the players but we are so fed up with the arrogance of the commentators. These women shifted the cultural boundaries of support and for 120 minutes wound the Union tighter than our politicians care to do.

Secondly, there. was the cheer joy. This entire tournament has been played in a spirit of utter joy. The Lionesses exuded it. This was something different from a men's tournament.

Women are different than men and they bring a different sensibility that together we need to share with equality. Football saw how it needed it. I would argue that the Church very much needs it and the world.

That joy was contagious. There were so many stories so forgive me if I use two Manchester City ones. Former City midfielder Jill Scott. 35 and currently unattached, was in the team that lost the 2009 final to Germany 6-2. Thirteen years later and she has redemption. Tears.

BUT... the most tears are for City striker Chloe Kelly. Injured in April she fought back to make the squad. This is the girl who used to get the bus from home to Wembley just to buy a programme and get the bus home again. Here she was... and she reacts quicker to poke in the goal that will be shown to and for generations to come. 

As if scoring the iconic goal was not enough, this morning's papers are littered with Chloe's celebration. Watch after she scores. She goes to lift her top. She waits. She is unsure if the goal will stand. Then, knowing she has possibly made history she takes her shirt off.

Many pointed to the USA's Brandi Chastain who took her shirt off after a winning penalty in the 1999 World Cup Final. I would suggest that the photo above hints at that Aguerooo moment from City's 94th winning goal to seal the Premiership in 2012. As a City player Chloe would have been overdosed on this image all year. That windmill effect. She was looking for iconic and she got it!

The shirt off and running around Wembley in her sports bra has already had Gary Lineker in bother. It needs to be seen for how it was. As someone else has written, it is an image of a woman's body freed from sexual exploitation highlighting that a woman's body should be respected at the peak of sporting achievement.

Make no mistake, these Lionesses are culture shifters. I have been enjoying the WSL for a few years. The skill and technique, check the utter quality of Ella Toone's opening goal, can be more enjoyable without the bullying in the men's game. How many young girls will take up the sport now? 

I am thinking of my Primary School friend Caroline McClure, first picked every lunch time. The Carolines of 2022 might have a professional future in the sport. I am thinking of my wee friend Hannah, 21 with all the ability, balance and strength. Get down for a trial at Reading young woman. These Lionesses might have opened a door in your world too.

So Lionesses, thank you. Continue to enjoy. Drink it in. And just to warn... after a couple of World Cup wins we might go back to default. It was a big ask cheering for England!