After all the rumours of moves for Crouch and £10m bids for Cameroonian stars, Stoke City have announced the signing of Dean Whitehead. Tony Pulis has been a long time admirer of former Sunderland captain and true to form has stuck to the task of signing him, though it has taken him a few years…

So the annual curtain raiser at Newcastle Town has been and gone, who were the players who got hat-tricks I wondered as I got back from a day out... none it seems. In fact, we were beaten…..and only scored one goal.

It's all too easy to panic and start quoting statistics pairing pre season form with that taken into the league, but this fan is trying his best to remain as level headed as possible.

Reports have surfaced today that Ryan Shawcross is the subject of a substantial bid from Tottenham Hotspur as Harry Redknapp is reported to have gotten in touch with his old pal Pulis about a deal for the 6ft5in Defender. Stoke, having plucked Shawcross from the relative obscurity of Manchester United’s Reserves for a paltry £1m, saw Ryan fit right in to a Promotion chasing Stoke side and in his first full season achieve a goal tally a Striker would be proud of as he helped fire Stoke to the promised land of the Premier League.

After weeks of Cricket/Rugby/Golf/Darts hogging the back pages, Football is now making its way back to its rightful place pushing these stopgap sports back through the pages to sit nicely alongside the adverts for the Dirty DVD Shop that is closing down.