Thom Gibbs knew there would be little domestic news during the summer, but he couldn't help checking anyway

Pre-season is a tough time. After the white-hot glare of the World Cup we’re left with four barren weeks to search fruitlessly for meaning in a life devoid of competitive football. So spare a thought for the media in this difficult period, which has football space to fill but very little actual news to work with. Their normal world of match reports, gaffers’ reactions and injury bulletins goes out the window, and the paucity of genuine news is especially noticeable in an internet-enabled world. Starved of anything substantial to talk about, messageboards go into overdrive over innocuous announcements such as the season’s new squad numbers, speculating wildly about the significance of the third-choice right-back’s move from 27 to 31.

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Jon Spurling looks at how footballers' holidaying habits have changed radically since the days of the maximum wage

For England’s multimillionaire footballers, there is one major consolation to having flopped so dismally on the grand stage earlier this summer. With cash to burn, they have the choice of jetting off to any destination in the short gap between the World Cup and the new season. Frank Lampard, with girlfriend Christine Bleakley in tow, holidayed in Italy with the Redknapps while the newly single Ashley Cole took a break in Los Angeles. According to the tabloids, Cole quickly got over the trauma of his split from Cheryl by partying until the early hours in “the city’s top nightspots”.

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Steve Menary explains how qualification for the Champions League is becoming a closed shop

Spurs’ appearance in this year’s Champions League qualifiers is the first in four seasons by a team outside of the Premier League’s big four. Since 1994-95 and the start of the group format, just nine English clubs have played in the Champions League. The Premier League is a cash cow but between 1992-93 and 2008-09, Man Utd earned €261 million (£217m) from the Champions League – and that’s just from UEFA. Research from tournament sponsor Mastercard shortly before this year’s final claimed that whoever won would earn €120m in total.

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Neville Hadsley explains what it is like to be stuck following a team to whom very little has happened for over four decades

Many football fans love this time of year. The season has not yet begun and anything is possible. The start of the campaign cannot come soon enough. As a Sky Blues fan of four decades all I feel is the onset of mild resignation. Experience tells Coventry City supporters  that, in all likelihood, our dreams will be squashed by Christmas and all Santa will bring are the annual recriminations and the knowledge that all that lies ahead is six months of treading water until the whole thing starts over again.

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New rules announced by both UEFA and the Premier League are meant to curb football's financial excesses. but, as Mark Brophy points out, they might not have that much effect on the big clubs

UEFA’s impending Financial Fair Play regulations have met with seemingly universal approval. Starting in 2012, clubs who fail to comply with the rules laid down will be barred from European competition. Clubs spending more than the income they generate will fall foul of the rules, as will those which spend more than 70 per cent of turnover on wages, have unsustainable debt or fail to pay debts on time. At the same time Premier League rules limiting squad size to 25 with eight places reserved for homegrown players have come into effect for the new season, again to general acclaim.

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