Under normal circumstances I would, right now, be suffering from severe pre-match tension with the English football season due to kick-off today.

However, with the Blades finally promoted to the Premier League, I can sit back and relax for an extra fortnight before the tension kicks in properly. Good times indeed.

With that in mind I am able to take a more relaxed look at the forthcoming Championship season without any personal prejudice getting in the way. And, by all accounts, it should be a pretty exciting season in the second tier.

Because this year, more than ever before, the Championship is packed with big teams. There are those who just came down from the top flight – Birmingham, West Brom and Sunderland – and those that have been languishing in the lower leagues for a while – Leeds, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday – teams who have all been in the Premier League at one time or another.

Add to that those teams who have been looking strong in recent years like Preston and Cardiff and the Championship does really begin to look like a Premiership II, the original intention when it was renamed a couple of years ago.

So who will come out on top of this particularly enthralling pile? Too tricky to say but I have a sneaky feeling Crystal Palace and Birmingham will be the two to beat with West Brom and Southampton close behind.

But with so much quality around it genuinely could end up being any one from ten or so who set the pace, although I very much doubt we will see a situation like last season when United and Reading ran away with it from the very beginning.

And this year, for once, I will be able to sit back and watch it all unfold devoid of tension. Excellent.

Chelsea and Gallas

I am no football manager. In fact I struggle to string together two wins in a row when playing Championship Manager on the PC. But even I know the importance of team morale.

A happy dressing room makes for a happy team and a happy team is often a successful one. It’s mostly just common sense.

And that makes it all the harder to understand why Chelsea have not sent William Gallas on his way long before now.

The French defender has not been happy at the club for about, oh, give or take, three years – pretty much ever since Mourinho arrived. He has been played out of position a lot and he has publicly stated his desire to get out of the club at just about every available opportunity.

So why the devil have Chelsea not just sold him?

He is a good player. A very good player. But he is not irreplaceable and surely the negative atmosphere generated by having a player in the dressing room who really doesn’t want to be there far outweighs any positives.

Now the player has failed to turn up for pre-season training and Mourinho has said this shows a lack of respect for the club. But Gallas has, let’s be honest, been showing a lack of respect every time he has complained about playing out of position.

I just really can’t understand why Chelsea haven’t offloaded the player before now. A manager as astute as Mourinho must know Gallas is causing unrest and he must also know how damaging that is to the team as whole.

The latest no-show must surely signal the end of the Frenchman’s Stamford Bridge career. There are talks planned for next week, apparently, but I can’t see the situation being resolved amicably.

Gallas’ Chelsea career should have been over the first time he complained publicly about his role in the team. Someone on his kind of wages should be happy even if he is played in goal…

Ronaldo

According to the emails I received this week, some of you took offence to the fact that I likened Ronaldo to a turtle.

One person even went to the extreme of sending me video clips of the Portugal player trying to look all erotic in a variety of fashion poses – a considerable amount with his shirt off.

Let me say at this point that it was never my intention to offend. I am sure there are plenty of women out there who think he is the best thing since sliced bread. I myself know a couple of ladies who think he is sex on legs.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that he does bare an uncanny resemblance to one of our bumpy shelled friends – especially in the neck department.

It’s not jealousy, it’s just a fact. Sorry girls.

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