In a week that was dominated by the transfer deadline day in the world of football, The Sun excelled themselves in their ability to squeeze a pun out of nearly every available story.

Transfer deadline day is something which I always expect to be a spectacular event. Drama should spew from every second of the day, as players dramatically switch clubs and make last gasp moves, which they’ve had little time to think about.

In actuality it’s nothing like this. Instead the day is spent watching Sky Sports’ rolling toolbar make the most of Reading’s acquisition of Lee Hendrie on a free transfer. The days’ viewing is significant let down.

This year was no exception. However, after the six o’clock deadline had passed, the excitement of the day’s activity was revealed in what surprisingly turned out to be an incredibly productive day for the privileged few.

The squad selection for Fabio Capello’s first competitive international since the World Cup brought few surprises, but if his controversial website the Capello Index is accurate, he has picked the wrong players to take their country to the European Championships in 2012.

Blending experience and youth, Capello hopes to blood the next generation of England stars alongside the established players that have dominated the England setup for so long.

However the manager’s controversial website disagrees that the squad selected is the best that England has to offer.

Having found themselves on the receiving end of a 7-0 thumping at the hands of Crewe the previous week and bottom of the football league, Barnet’s game against Bury attracted only the loyal few.

The usual compact atmosphere inside Underhill stadium was eerily absent, as the sparsely populated ground nervously waited to see how their team would react.

During the build-up to the game and indeed throughout the first-half, Barnet fans could barely muster a sound as they watched their side nervously defend the stalemate handed to them from the kick-off.

Restricted by a greedy desire for articles to reach as many people as possible and maximize search engine optimization, headlines are often dull affairs online and are with the odd exception they’re usually nothing more than a brief précis of the article.

The travelling support brought a banner reading ‘The Nightmare Returns’ as Villa once again faced Rapid Vienna for a place in the group stages of the Europa League, after being knocked out at the same point last season, but surely lightning wouldn’t strike twice.

As a Villa fan nervously watching a side low on confidence and attacking ideas, I was fearful from the point when Stiliyan Petrov missed a penalty and Emile Heskey did what he does best and fluffed the re-bound that was seemingly destined for the back for the net.

Having also missed a spot-kick in last seasons encounter, the match had an unsettling sense of déjà vu about it and when that feeling of disquiet became a disturbing reality, when in three second half minutes goals from Sonnleitner and Gartler gave Rapid another victory, the horror of being a Villa fan was brought into sharp focus.

Tottenham’s progression through to the group stage of the Champions League is a momentous achievement for a club that just 20 months ago sat bottom of the Premier League.

Having broken the big cup monopoly of the supposed big four clubs, United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, to finish fourth in the league and eventually ensure Champions League qualification, the club is set for a considerable financial windfall.

The economic benefit to the club will be substantial, as will benefit to the clubs image and reputation across Europe as an emerging football power, but perhaps the biggest winner isn’t the club at all, instead it is the second choice shirt sponsor Investec.

Theo Walcott’s hat-trick helped Arsenal to a 6-0 victory over Blackpool on Saturday, but even this failed to win over his detractors, Alan Hansen and Chris Waddle, who both voiced their criticism of the England international.

The pacey winger netted the first hat-trick of his club career during Arsenals thrashing of Blackpool, but this didn’t stop Hansen mauling the forward’s football intelligence.

The untimely condemnation won’t be a new thing for the 21 year old England international, who has in the past been the subject of criticism for his distribution of the ball, something which arguably cost him a place in Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad.

Club football returned to England last weekend as the Premier League season kicked-off and it afforded fans the opportunity to finally concentrate on the trials and tribulations of their beloved local team, instead of the national side. Some were left disappointed, as the realisation of their teams abilities was refreshed, some were overjoyed and some just got a little bit over excited by the occasion.

The favourites tag seemingly weighed heavy around Tottenham’s neck on Tuesday night, as they succumbed to the forward intentions of Young Boys and were defeated 3-2.

Spurs were slow getting started in their first ever Champions League tie and were guilty of firing blanks at Young Boys, who on the other hand were clinical.

Seemingly content to leave the hard work for the second leg at White Hart Lane, Spurs put in a performance that was reminiscent of their yo-yo days of old, where a good performance was sponged from the memory by a terrible one.

It’s good to be home, back amongst the warmth and comfort of Premier League football.

Saturday’s big kick-off brought with it everything that is wonderful about football; despite Sky Sports attempting to up the hype of its imminent arrival to such a bombastic level that if it was to be believed all fans were ready to spontaneously combust with sheer excitement at three o’clock.

Instead, it was business as usual and I couldn’t have asked for more.

Imagine a world where the biggest and most important stories from the world of football don’t contain puns a plenty, double entendres or Arsene Wenger mocked up as Mr T.

It doesn’t bear thinking about. Thankfully though we live in an age of instant gratification, where people’s thirst for fast information is unquenchable and there’s no better way to get the crux of a story across than the headline.

Adoration then must be poured on The Sun, Star and the Standard. The Guardian, Metro and Gazette, who have all contributed towards another week in headlines.

Having walked out on Villa, Martin O’Neill has created a manager shaped hole at Aston Villa that urgently needs filling if the club are to maintain the heights that the Northern Irishman took them to during his tenure.

Many Villa fans would be hoping that a large queue would be forming outside Villa Park of top class managers, desperately clutching their CV and trying to catch the attention of Chairman Randy Lerner.

Lerner though could have trouble luring such candidates to the job, as he himself admitted the club has a sell-to-buy policy in operation and even if a manager is quickly installed, they will little time to bring in any fresh faces before the close of the transfer window.

Martin O’Neil has left the managerial position at Aston Villa with immediate effect and Kevin MacDonald has been appointed caretaker boss.

Appointed in 2006, O’Neill successfully guided Villa to three successive European campaigns and their first Wembley final for ten years in the League Cup.

Having left without clarifying what made him jump ship, Villa find themselves stranded without a manger and limited future prospects, exaggerated by the fact that the Premier League season starts in under a week.

The name Rapid Vienna shouldn’t strike fear into the supporter of any established European club, but Villa’s reunion with the side that dumped Martin O’Neill’s team out of the Europa League at the same stage last year, doesn’t fill me with optimism.

Perhaps things would be different if O’Neill had a track record of taking the competition seriously, but unfortunately he doesn’t.

Instead he prefers to use it as a platform to advertise the inabilities of Nicky Shorey, Habib Beye and Brad Guzan.