After a short break that hardly seemed to occur, the Premier League gets underway and, hopefully although I won't be holding my breath, the football will take precedence over the trivialities that surround it.

This country has an excellent product that is in high demand all over the world.

The league continually attracts some of the world's best players and while the football might not be the most technically outstanding, it is hard to disagree that it is generally a decent spectacle.

Despite this, the focus is directed not at the games themselves, but at mind games and snide remarks that hardly give the impression of phychological masterminds at work.

This club is out of order, they're acting illegally, his side are too old, their kit's too red.

The pettiness goes on and on and doesn't do anything for those who continually perpetrate it. The reason the Premier League is popular is because of the actual football.

It would be good to see the spectacle on the pitch become the attention grabber but unfortunately there is as much chance of this happening as there is of Rafa Benitez knowing his best side.