So farewell then, Kenny Dalglish. The Liverpool manager leaves the manager’s position at Anfield in a curious position, having reminded supporters of the club what winning trophies feels like – it seems scarcely credible but is nevertheless true that this year’s League Cup final was the clubs first at the new Wembley Stadium – but having failed in the Premier League, where no amount of white-washing could mask the fact that an eighth placed finish was unacceptably modest.

One could forgive the Czech Republic for being a little circumspect in their preparations for the 2012 European Championships. Having failed to qualify for the World Cup finals again two years ago – they’ve only qualified for one World Cup finals since the division of the Czechoslovakia’s national football team split into two early in 1994 – their qualification for this European Championships was modest and unspectacular. They scored only twelve goals in their eight qualifying matches, of which they lost three including a home defeat in their opening match against Lithuania.

In the end, Kettering Town’s wretched season ended with a whimper rather than a bang. They finished the season with just thirty points, rooted to the bottom of the Blue Square Bet Premier, and under the same ownership with which they began the season – albeit under the apparent control of a new “acting chairman” – and with the future of the club hanging in the balance to the same extent as it has been for much of the last nine months. Yet the summer months can bring shark-infested waters for football clubs that have been flying by the seat of their pants throughout the season.

There was always something inherently contradictory about Stan Flashman. He is, perhaps, best remembered as the “King Of The Touts” (often with the prefix “Self-Styled” attached to it), but when he craved respectability he would rebrand himself as a “Ticket Broker.” Ultimately, though, he himself stated that he didn’t care what he was called as long as the money was right.