...well, maybe...

It`s been a difficult week juggling my priorities between conflicting interests.  I suppose I should have placed this week`s Brexit mayhem at the top of my list of concerns but there has been stiff competition from the Test Match in Sri Lanka and the shenanigans surrounding the Premier League and the `selection` of Wayne Rooney in the England football team.

Brexit seems to be heading in the direction of joining the festive fol-de-rols as probably the most engaging pantomime of the season.  The cricket in Sri Lanka is going well although I am rather relieved not to be one of the barmy army of travelling England supporters, having read of the short walk David Lloyd took from the pavilion at Galle to the commentary position, during which he passed a monkey, a boa constrictor and a cobra.

So let`s have a look at the week`s football news and two things really stand out.  The first - and least troublesome - was the selection of Wayne Rooney back in the England squad and made captain when he came on to play in the second half.   Now maybe I shouldn`t mind too much that he secured his 120th cap but it seemed to me that England caps should be won on merit, not handed out like a bag of sweets to reward good behaviour.  It wouldn`t surprise me if Rooney doesn`t get beatified on his way to sainthood before too long.

But the real issue this week has been the Premier League clubs agreeing to a request to stump up £250,000 each so that departing premier League boss Richard Scudamore can have a £5million leaving present.   And this for someone who has been in the job for 19 years on a salary of £2.5million a year.  No wonder fans across the country have voiced their outrage at such nonsense.   I was disappointed that my own club, Southampton, went along with it rather than thinking just how much good £250,000 would do for the poorer parts of the community.

Issues such as that, the alleged financial fair play system, the outrageous salaries paid to Premier League players, the preponderance of foreign ownership and the increasing uncompetitiveness whereby the league is now split between about six clubs vying for the title and the rest trying to avoid relegation, all point to a growing disillusionment among the majority of its audience.   

So I`m rather hoping - perhaps a pious hope - that before too long the `top six` will indeed shove off and join a European Super League and leave the rest of us in peace.   Of course, that presupposes that English clubs will be allowed to do so after Brexit.  Which leaves me turning yet again to cricket which provides a constant air of sanity and reason in a world which becomes increasingly bonkers.