In the absence of any football this weekend, thanks to Bristol Rovers managing to get through to the next round of the FA Cup, it’s time to preview - nothing much at all.

Personally, having just finished decorating the daughter’s bedroom, it’s moving onto the “spare room” next. The big problem here is going to be choosing the colour scheme, so it is suitable for the Grand Daughter when she visits (what does a 16 month old girl like?) and for any visitors we might have staying over. Big choices to be made there, of course. The only problem with that is it will also interfere, probably, with me getting to the West Walsall CC indoor nets on Saturday morning to see how the offspring is getting on and whether his feet are moving properly when he’s batting.

The other big job will doubtless be trying to sort out the daughter’s trip to Africa. Although the two months in Namibia are fine, it look like they will have to cancel the month in Kenya with the political troubles and the chances of getting the air fares back are negligible.

There might be a little football related thought, as visits to Upthesaddlers.com mean definite speculation as to the possible identities of new signings and the “will he, won’t he” soap opera of trying to outguess Ray Ranson, Dicky Dosh and Jeff Bonser. Both exercises are likely to be futile, as the signings will be a complete surprise and I doubt if the Coventry management situation and Ranson massaging his ego with the appointment of Sam Allardyce is going to be sorted out that quickly.

I believe that there is some football on the tele, of course, with it being FA Cup weekend, so there is the prospect of some entertainment listening to John Motson’s increasingly senile ramblings, not to mention Alan Shearer demonstrating his lack of tactical knowledge and why he shouldn’t be Newcastle United manager. As to who actually gets through, that doesn’t really hold that much interest for me, as it is virtually inevitable that the damn thing will be won by one of the so-called “big four”, as it has been every year since 1996. At least Mottie might be an improvement on the big film, which is Timothy Dalton as a rather wooden James Bond in “Licence to Kill”. There’s nobody else in the film I’ve ever heard of.

On the rest of the sporting front, fortunately, England’s impending ritual humiliation at the hands of France in the Six Nations is happening the weekend after this, so I’ll be safe from that particular threat.

There’s always the rest of the TV, I suppose, but Saturday night is likely to be full of the usual inane offerings (the daughter will be watching the final of “The One And Only”, for example), so the best bet there will be a phone call to our friends and a visit to the “Blue Ball” in Wednesbury for some real beer.

Predictions?

Overall, I think it’s likely to be a weekend much like any other with no match. For God’s sake, bring back the footie!