Thank Goodness, football is back. OK so we had the World Cup to break things up, but England’s performances were nothing to get excited about. Now it’s Saturday afternoons at the Turf and on the road to watch the mighty Clarets in their forthcoming campaign.

For those of you who haven’t managed to get to any pre-season friendlies, be prepared for the unfamiliar sight, at least since the days of Blake and Moore, of a two man strike force.

Pre-season went well, with the Clarets picking up wins over Accrington Stanley and Premiership Bolton, as well as a draw at Bury and 7-0 and 4-1 wins over a couple of pub teams in Northern Italy. Still, it breeds confidence and we go into the new campaign unbeaten in pre-season.

QPR are the visitors to the Turf for the first game of the season, and The Hoops have been busy in the transfer market this summer, bringing in a number of foreign players to boost the numbers.

6’1” Polish front-man Adam Czerkas, 22, joined from Polish Premier League outfit Kolporter Korona, and he was joined by Nigerian midfielder Egutu Oliseh, 25, who signed from Belgian side La Louviere. They have also brought in Jamaican international defender Damion Stewart, 25, who spent last season on loan at Bradford City, and Australian midfielder Nick Ward, 21, has joined from Perth Glory.

So, very cosmopolitan it is at Loftus Road this season, but whether or not these players will compensate for experienced Championship players or not only time will tell.

The Hoops had a very mixed pre-season, kicking off with a 1-1 draw at Aldershot before then beating Stevenage Borough 4-1. They won 1-0 at Gillingham before doing a Burnley and jetting off to Italy, for Rangers though Sorrento was their destination.

Like us, they played two games in Italy, but with very contrasting results. They were hammered 5-1 by Serie C2 side Sorrento Calcio before pulling themselves together and beating San Antonio Abate 4-0. Rangers’ fixtures were also hampered though with San Antonion Abate having to replace SS Cavese as their pitch was deemed unplayable. Not only us with problems arranging the games over in Italy then.

The big news this week though is that Rangers have agreed a fee with West Brom which will see Danny Shittu join the Baggies for £1.5m. This fee could rise up to £3m depending on a number of things, but the big centre-half will be a big loss for them.

For QPR, Dominic Shimmin is suspended, whilst Paul Furlong will miss the game through a thigh injury. Otherwise, despite a few knocks the R’s will be at full strength.

The Clarets meanwhile have a clean bill of health apart from Danny Karbassiyoon who misses the game with a knee injury, not that we would have expected him to feature in any case. Danny Coyne will take his place on the bench, and it will be debuts for the two signings from Crewe, Stephen Foster and Steve Jones.

There we have it then, only a few hours now until season 2006/07 is underway at Turf Moor, who knows what it will bring, but we are certainly stronger numberswise than we have been for a good few years.

Bring it on – UTC.