The cuckoo has recently suffered a population decline in the UK which has seen it placed in the red list of endangered birds by the RSPB – this probably explains why I have not heard one at all in the last six years or so. Therefore, I have not heard a sound which is meant to signify the end of winter and the start of summer recently, but there is an indicator of the end of summer that is still going strong and has been for each of the last five years – it usually puts in it’s first appearance sometime in early September but has been heard occasionally in August.
I am talking of course about the first sighting of the “it’s a weak Championship this year” message – it is equally likely to appear on a messageboard or in a newspaper and you may have heard it occasionally on the telly, but, in each of our previous five seasons at this level, it has always sprung up just as thoughts turn to autumn.
So, around about the time we play Doncaster or Newcastle keep your eyes peeled and your ears to the ground for the first signs of the moment when someone sagely advises us that “it’s a weak Championship this year” – come to think of it, with so many draws on the first weekend of the campaign, it’s obvious that most sides in this league don’t have that bit of quality needed to turn a tight game, so I can’t help thinking that it’s a weak Championship this year.
*Originally published on 10/8/09.
