Football is just a business, three more Saturdays and odds for the season

Just three more Saturdays without football and everything returns to normal. Not for Bryan Robson though, who has been caught out by The Sun today. The best bit from the videos is where he tells us football is no longer a sport, it's just a business.

I feel sorry for Robson. A great player who was twenty years early. He'd be paid £200,000 a week today if he was at his prime and he'd not have to go about whoring himself out to anyone that will pay him. But it is a business first and foremost these days and there is, with any business turning over millions a week, money to be made.

But not everyone wants to accept that and if you gloss everything over with good PR, you'll fool most of the people. I felt fooled for a while, okay not long I admit, but I was fooled.

Prepared

On our crest badge we have a word. That word is prepared. You know what, maybe if we bring in Shay Given this week, the three weeks he will get will be enough time, but selling Carlos Cuellar doesn't inspire confidence.

Selling your best players every season as soon as you're offered a profit doesn't help either, but they're going for the money and they were not really our best player and it has nothing to do with them knowing more about the inner workings of the club than we do.

Three weeks and the season starts. Half of me hopes that the manager isn't allowed to bring in five players and he has to prove himself first with the players we have and one or two more. Half of me hopes the club are going to act sensibly. Get him a keeper and a winger for the £20mn we got for Downing and lets see if he can move us forward by managing.

There is talk of Fiorentina winger Juan Manuel Vargas and while I've heard of him and probably seen him play a couple of times last season, I've got to be honest and tell you, I don't know that much, so I couldn't possibly comment. Talk is he is a very decent player though and you know I love the talk.

Ability not a given Given

A lot of people talk about Shay Given and his shot stopping abilities. Well, there was an interesting statistic from OptaJoe last week, that I feel as if I've got to get down in black and white.

Shay Given has saved 68% of shots on target faced in the last five seasons - below the Premier League average of 70%.

It is just a statistic but I like Shay Given. I think he is a very good keeper and as long as his shoulder is okay, he can play for us for many years. That is until the owner gets an offer a little bit more than he has cost to date.

Odds for the 2011/12 season