Monday morning blues

I may be a jounalist, I may be a columnist and I may be slightly insane but there is little more important in my life right now than supporting Derby County.

Like most Rams fans I am stoical to the last and have coped well with the knocks this season.

But last Saturday's game against Spurs left me feeling at rock bottom because the scoreline in no way reflected the skill, spirit and determination shown by all the players that day. "3-0 to the referee," chanted the fans and how right they were.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to meet Rams player Jay McEveley and he was very upbeat.

He said the club was on a sound financial footing now and, though the team knew they Championship beckoned, they were convinced they would bounce straight back up, bigger and stronger.Of course, he's right!

Still on the subject of footie I couldn't help but smile at the rules laid down by new England boss Fabio Capello. Apparently, the spoilt Prem boys can't leave the table when they eat until everyone is finished. They also don't get pudding until they've eaten all their greens and if they don't clean their teeth at bedtime they get a sound thrashing.

Wags, of course, are banned, as are eating cheesy nachos in their rooms as room service is also banned. Fab has aslo complained that their hotels are too luxurious.

It's brilliant and a tad ironic. Italy is a country renowned for tossing rules to one side and going its own way.

When they first brought in the seatbelt law in Italy, people had T-shirts printed with diagonal black stripes to fool the police.

Our prem boys could never think of anything so clever to slip past Fabio's fab rules. A bit of Army discipline is just what they need. Fab fab!