Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

“ME mam says I can come out to play.”

No, this isn't the throw-away line from a young kid as he skips to the park with his mates but the likely conversation between Mason Bennett and Championship football club Derby County.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

THE race to find the next superstar is so intense that clubs will go to almost any length to snap up potential.

Take Premier League side Everton, they have just committed a reported TWO MILLION POUNDS to sign a 15 year old lad from League strugglers Bradford City.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

IT'S not been a good few days for being a professional footballer.

Yes, I know some of them earn bags of money, drive flashy cars and learn to do hip dances when they score a goal.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

FOOTBALLERS love taking the mickey and it seems as if the lads at Premier League newcomers Queens Park Rangers found an easy target.

Recent signing Shaun Wright-Phillips only stands 5ft 5ins tall and so when the players gathered at a hotel the night before their game at Wolves, they got hold of a baby's high-chair and placed a 'SWP' name card on it. Pictures of the stunt were then posted on Twitter by team-mate Joey Barton.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

IN Lou Reed's 1972 song Perfect Day, the lyrics start 'Just A Perfect Day, Drink Sangria In The Park'.

For some people a perfect day may indeed be a visit in the park or a trip to the zoo or even a day at the seaside.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

THE transfer window may now be closed but its after-effects are still being felt.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claimed it was a traumatic period. The summer saw him lose two of his best players in Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas and Wenger was then left with a rather frantic scramble in the last few days of the window to bring reinforcements in.