Today Manchester City and occasional England defender Wayne Bridge has announced that he no longer wishes to be selected for future England international matches, due to ex-Captain Marvellous’ alleged involvement with his ex.

Having had his international opportunities limited by another player who also allegedly cannot keep his balls in their box, Bridge has had little time to shine on the international stage.

Making most of his appearances in friendly matches and minor qualifying games, his performances have largely been nondescript, apart from one, for which he will always be remembered in my mind.

Upon hearing the news I was quite calm. In fact I was quite nonchalant about the whole thing.

Had England done their usual trick of struggling and plodding their way through the group stages, leaving themselves reliant on earning a point from a trip to a little known eastern European state then the game would obviously be of greater importance and the news that England’s World Cup qualifier with Ukraine is only being streamed online would be harder to swallow.

The news has prompted many angry fans to label this decision as an outrage. Of course their vain complaints are a load of bollocks.

In the run up to England’s World Cup qualifier with Croatia on Wednesday I was filled with hope that the Three Lions could avenge the nightmare of two years ago and qualify for the World Cup in the process.

This though only represented half of my thoughts. I also harboured feelings of dread, images of England once again failing to put in a performance when it mattered and visions of Scott Carson making a nightmarish return to the England team.

I was astonished and delighted then to witness a clinical and ruthless England comfortably sweep aside Croatia and cruise towards the World Cup with two games left to play. Does this now mean that England are a genuine hope at the World Cup or am I just hopping on the bandwagon of expectation that rides around every two years at tournament time?

For many, Sunday is a day of rest, relaxation and religion and I’m no different, apart from the religion bit.

Sitting down to watch an episode of Columbo with a tuna sandwich and a glass of milk, I plan a day of tottering around the flat after a busy week of work. Very little strenuous work will be undertaken as I reflect on what has been an enjoyable few days for me.

The same is probability happening in the world of football, but perhaps in more of a thoughtful than delightful mood, after a week that saw Chelsea punished for pinching kids from teams, England awarded a bizarre penalty to help them towards a 2-1 home win over Slovenia and Scotland maintaining the pretence that they’re still going to qualify for the World Cup after beating Macedonia 2-0.