Welcome To The Celtic Cup

Further to yesterday's soccer post, I'm pleased to say a new competition has been announced. Seeing that Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all out of next year's Euro 2008 championship, they've taken some positive action and agreed to start a new tournament, the Celtic Cup, instead.

Now that England's in the same situation, they have to make a quick decision on whether they want to rebuild their shattered self-esteem by joining in.

I hope they do. If they don't, they're not scheduled to play another competitive international before next autumn. The commentators on Wednesday night repeatedly described them as playing like strangers. That's a situation that a year's absence from playing together as a team is hardly likely to improve.

Come on, boys - the fans are starving for success. The run-up to the World Cup starts right here, right now.