SWANNY'S WORLD OF SPORT: Sadly Checkatrade cash is vital, an unknown hero, over-hyped manager

I’m a football fan and that’s what the vast majority of fans want.

The English Football League’s Trophy is tedious, it’s irrelevant in terms of form or player development and it just clutters up a season that already contains too many games.

It was a waste of everyone’s time even before the fools at the Football League introduced Premier League B teams and dead rubbers thus guaranteeing tiny crowds and outrage on social media.

But clubs like Posh desperately need money and the Checkatrade Trophy offers cash prizes.

I’d love Posh to have voted the same way as Cobblers in an attempt to see the competition disappear, but economically that would make no sense.

HULL BOSS WAS OVERHYPED

Hull manager Marco Silva has received a lot of praise for almost keeping a basket-case club in the Premier League . But, unlike Swansea manager Paul Clement, he didn’t succeed in the one task he’d been given. Both men took over teams who were bottom of the league at the time and yet Silva’s next job will probably be better than Clement’s for no obvious reason other than media hype.

PLAYERS ARE ON HOLIDAY

Arsene Wenger makes very little sense now, but his assertion that some mid-table clubs appear to have sent their players on holiday before the end of the season thus affecting the race for Champions League places has merit. Including Stoke who surrendered to Arsenal.

HERO OF THE WEEK

No I hadn’t heard of Bernard Giudicelli Ferrandini before this week either, but he’s the man who stopped Maria Sharapova receiving a wildcard entry into the French Open tennis so he’s an instant hero to me. Sharapova’s hasty return from a drugs ban is a tawdry ep isode in one of my favourite sports. Hopefully someone will knock her out in Wimbledon qualifying.