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Nick Barmby, 10 years after leaving Everton, just been serenaded off the Woodison pitch with a loud and proud vocal airing of "Meeerderrrreeerrrsss", followed by an equally vocal "Die Die Nicky Nicky Die" "We do things with Class and Dignity" Indeed.

The internet has clearly brought us all many wonderful things, it has made everyone in the world more accessible and allowed football fans from many nations to come together under the banner of their love for a football club for more than could ever have been achieved without it, but I cant help but think football must have been more fun before it and the enjoyment is one thing that must have suffered from the technological age. It isn’t just the internet, but the whole 24 hour media coverage that is required to fill digital tv stations such as Sky Sports News, Setanta Sports News, even BBC News 24’s hourly sports round ups. My memory of football pre 1992 is faded, being only 11 when the Premier League came into fruition, and it is without doubt that this step alone has changed the entire face of football, and it was probably another 10 years before this whole 24 hour obsession started in earnest, so I do have some time for comparison. We all now know about every transfer, real or not, in such intimate detail that we are aware of what colour pants the player is wearing while he conducts his medical. We know months in advance about what is going on with buyouts, contract offers, player sales and such like. There is nothing that ever surprises other than the 90 minutes on the pitch. This cant seriously be fun anymore. I remember when we signed Karl-Heinz Riedle of my surprise when I saw it on the back page of the paper on holiday, and that other than seeing the reports I had no idea, it was exciting. Now this summer, every day, too many times every few hours, I am looking on websites with the hope that some ‘breaking news’ is unveiled. I know exactly who it will be about, and roughly what the cost will be, and we have all known for so long that when he/they arrive we will have nothing to really say about it other than “about time too”, all the debates and discussions about how he/they will fit in and what we can expect of them next season etc, have all been had, many times over, now months ago. What is fun about it? I know people have posted threads recently about falling out of love with the game, for reasons of money (both cost to us and that paid to the players) and the profit greedy ownership and the rest, but can anyone tell me for definite that summers used to be more fun than this, before we knew what was going on. My final synopsis, ignorance must be bliss.