Finally, the wait is over. The football season is upon us after a long, drawn out summer, made all the more unbearable without a World Cup or a European Championships to fill the void (wow, there’s some rubbish on TV without football!).

What promised to be a “Barbecue Summer” ended in disappointment for most British sports fans – we still don’t have a Wimbledon champion, our hopes of Ashes glory appear to have gone up in smoke (again), and the only chance of getting the grill out came and went before last season even ended.

But August has arrived and with it comes renewed optimism as football returns to the back pages of the papers, the full transfer ins-and-outs begin to sink in (has Michael Owen really gone to Man. Utd?) and Soccer Saturday rescues armchair fans up and down the land from the dreaded shopping centre. Who needs Nando’s when there’s a Pukka pie and a plastic cup of boiling hot tea at half-time?

As usual, most pre-season talk is about the ‘Big Four’. How will Fergie cope without Christiano Ronaldo? Can Liverpool finally end their title drought? Will Chelsea keep all their stars happy? How long will Arsenal’s board keep the PIN number to their ATM machine a secret from Arsene Wenger?

Then there’s the gatecrashers. Who can break their stranglehold and qualify for next season’s Champions League? All the focus this year has, understandably, gone towards the blue half of Manchester. They may not yet be the ‘prawn sandwich’ brigade of their red counterparts, but their oil-rich Abu Dhabi backers are playing a kind of ‘Fantasy Football’ United’s corporate fans in the South can only dream of. There’s still three weeks to go in the transfer window and City have spent no less than £80m on the likes of Garreth Barry, Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz and Emmanuel Adebayor. It seems no club is safe, and every player has his price.

With Everton desperately trying to prevent City from luring Joleon Lescott, their chances of cracking the top four may depend on how successful they are, while perennial under-achievers Tottenham are turning to their old stars to bring back the Glory Days. It seems only a matter of time before Hoddle, Waddle and Gascoigne are back in the fold.

As for who’s facing the drop, the newly promoted teams such as Burnley and Wolves will be mentioned, while the likes of Stoke and Hull will be hoping to avoid second-season syndrome.

Whatever happens, it’s good to be talking about it again. Not that we’ve ever needed an excuse to go down the pub, but it’s nice to know we’ve got one.