Ian Plenderleith ploughs through the ruminations of Setanta's pundits

I once worked for a website that took contributions from professional footballers, but the only player who regularly sent us copy was so inane that the impossibility of turning his column into something interesting or readable caused you to take the only option available – to bury your head in your hands and weep. Another player we approached who had written some sensible blog entries on his own personal site turned us down politely on the grounds that writing a blog had been fun for the first few weeks, but then it had started to seem more “like homework”.

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Gretna supporters have attempted to keep their club alive after their dramatic demise, reports Andy Fury

The small town of Annan in Dumfries and Galloway has seen several new footballing dawns recently. The most highly publicised is its own football club’s election to the Scottish Football League. Its other, rather ironically, is the resurrection of the club Annan Athletic replaced in Division Three, Gretna FC.

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A recent case involving Wigan chairman Dave Whelan is set to change the way clubs pay for policing on matchdays, writes Bruce Wilkinson

Earlier this year, Wigan lost a High Court battle with Greater Manchester Police over the costs of matchday policing, which could change the way all clubs are charged for their security. Until now they have had to pay only for policing within the ground and the immediate vicinity. In court, GMP successfully argued that it should also be paid for controlling the area surrounding the JJB Stadium, setting a precedent that could allow police authorities to increase charges dramatically.

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TV companies are promising bigger and better things for the new season, but Simon Tyers is not so sure they'll deliver

Televised football is, like Tottenham, undergoing a transitional phase. Setanta have not so far met their customer-base predictions, but start 2008-09 with their strongest hand yet in terms of live games. This despite not having yet found a permanent first-choice commentator, Jon Champion still being on loan from ITV, nor a notable accomplice. Craig Burley has clearly set out to be the new Andy Gray, but hasn’t bothered to develop tactical nous or a commanding commentary-box presence. Instead, he has gone straight for the unshakeably dour, moaning persona Gray has been perfecting of late.

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London winning the right to stage the 2012 Olympic Games has dominated the agenda this month

Anyone who winced through the eye-wateringly bad “celebration” of London’s staging of the 2012 Olympics held in The Mall on Sunday, August 24, had better steel themselves for four long years of witless build-up, from which football, sadly, will not be immune. The sporting and political establishment are only too aware of the commercial opportunities such a team could provide and they aren’t going to let it go.

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