This is going to be a bit all over the place today, so I apologise now, but I'm in a hurry and well, when I start to rush something I tend to repeat myself a bit every now and then.
But first, to Germany and we didn't lose which has to be a positive, but can someone tell me the quality of the sides we were playing. Was it really third and fourth tier in Germany?
But you know what, it doesn't matter. The purpose of a trip away is more for team morale than results. The results will matter now, because they're at home and we'll start to see exactly what to expect next season in the upcoming fixtures.
I wanted to go to Germany, but couldn't get away but I hear it was a lot of fun for those that went. Sadly, I'm not paid by a paper for news, so couldn't justify it.
What is news?
Which leads me on to my point in the title about what news actually is. There was something in The Mirror yesterday that wasn't news, but seems to have been taken as news about Christian Benteke.
What was written yesterday by James Nursey isn't backed up by any quotes and actually contains false information; Benteke didn't go on strike at his previous club, regardless of what we want to believe.
And if you pay that paper enough money, which isn't a lot, you can have anything written you want. You can even ask reporters to write stuff for you with a little nod that you'll give them something else next time.
What James Nursey has to do each day is dog eat dog. It's a horrible job. He probably has to Tweet a certain amount of times each day, probably has to post stories a certain number of times each week and probably has to direct a certain amount of traffic to his stories.
Sometimes, it's just easier to generate traffic with something that is actually nothing. My point is, it wasn't news, possibly informed opinion, but we sort of all know that Benteke wants to leave, but what have the club said about an amount or actually, what have the club actually told us?
What those papers do is so far from the news that Nursey probably wakes up each day wondering how he ended up in the place he finds himself, because I bet he never went to college wanting to report on rumours and speculation.
My point is this; Benteke is possibly moving, you could even say probably, but we really should wait for the club to tell us what is going on. They call this part of the footballing year silly season for a reason and I'd be surprised if 10% of the football stories actually written by some of these outlets was actually true.
Rant over now for a new contract
So, finally today, we know that Westwood got a new contract, well there is talk that Lowton wants one too and there is hope that it will get done very soon.
I'm not saying anything other than, I'd really like it if he signed an extension. He did well last season and I think he will get better. I think he deserves a new contract, if the likes of Guzan and Westwood are getting one and even though it looks like Joe Bennett is getting pushed out, I think he deserves one too, but I*m in a generous mood.
And on that, I'm off for a few hours. Time for an oil change.