I hate to say I told you so but… I told you so.

A few weeks ago I said I had a sneaky feeling Emile Heskey was only one or two good performances away from an England recall.

Well, here we are a few weeks and a few good performances down the line and Emile has been called up by Steve McClaren for the crucial qualifiers against Israel and Russia.

When I first heard the news on Sunday I have to confess to groaning out loud. Then giggling. Then sobbing softly. But, having given it a bit more considered thought, I have decided it’s not such a bad move after all.

England are desperately short of strikers for these games. Rooney is out, Crouch is suspended and Dean Ashton – the player I would really like to see given a run out up front – is still very short of match practice.

Given those limitations why not call up Heskey? He has plenty of experience with 40-plus caps and has played alongside Michael Owen numerous times for England. Often very successfully. Think about the 5-1 victory over Germany…

Emile’s critics, and there are plenty of them, will point to the fact that he has only scored five goals for his country but his game is not so much about scoring as about setting up others to score.

He is a big, strong target man who holds up play and allows his possibly more skilled colleagues to get in on the action.

I heard one so-called expert on television saying the move smacks of desperation from McClaren. And it does. But these are desperate times for England when only positive results will do.

What would you rather see in such crucial matches? An experimental strike force that may or may not gel or a tried and trusted strike force that may not be glamourous but is more than capable of getting the job done?

I know where my preference lies.

Premiership title race

In recent years the Premiership title race has been pretty much sown up by this stage of the season. Well, not sown up exactly, but we would normally have a pretty clear indication who will be lasting the distance and who will be bowing out.

This year is rather different. Not only have all the big teams wobbled at some stage, but we even have a couple of unexpected teams bobbing around the top four.

Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at Villa on Sunday was just the latest indication that the big four might not have it all their own way this season and that is as refreshing as a bath full of Gatorade.

My money is still on Arsenal to do the deed but, to be honest, I am just happy that we might still have an open title race on our hands come Christmas.

Sheffield teams

It would seem there is only one thing more depressing than being a Sheffield United fan at the moment and that is being a Sheffield Wednesday fan.

The Blades have made an absolutely awful start to the season, winning one, drawing one and losing two… including an embarrassing defeat to the mighty Scunthorpe.

But that pales into insignificance in comparison to the Owls who have lost all four of their matches so far. This is pretty much the same team that only just missed out on the play-offs last season after spending the last few months as the form team of the division.

They are rooted to the bottom of the Championship and confidence amongst the players and supporters is at an all time low if chatter on the Internet is to be believed.

They have sold one or two of their better players but that is no excuse for a start which has included a 4-1 hammering away at Ipswich and a 3-1 humiliation at home to Wolves.

As I have said before, I am not one of those Sheffield United fans who likes to see Wednesday do badly. That’s just petty in my mind. If things are bad for one team, they are bad for the city as a whole and that’s not good.

Having said that, because there are plenty of Wednesday fans who would like to see United suffer, I have to admit I am happier that they are propping up the league instead of us.

But there is plenty of time for that to change, especially with the way we are playing under Bryan ‘clueless’ Robson…

Good time at Ronaldo’s house

I can’t finish off without at least mentioning the ‘orgy’ that took place at Manchester United star Ronaldo’s house a couple of weeks ago.

Allegedly the Portuguese winger and team-mates Nani and Anderson hired high-class prostitute Juliana Baltrusch to give them all a good time at Ronaldo’s luxury home.

I won’t go into details of what apparently took place – this is a respectable newspaper after all – but suffice to say that the prostitute claimed she scored her own personal Premiership hat-trick.

And that’s considerably more than any of her clients have managed so far this season…

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