Morning all,

well the superbug that laid me low at the weekend is still in force, but I'm hoping to shake it off in time for Thursday - all my work colleagues have been off sick so it's clearly a Manchester student borne disease!

I was hoping to pay tribute on Saturday to the sterling efforts of everyone over the past two years especially, and in particular Cliff and the CDO who have worked wonders behind the scenes to help me out this year while I've been occupied with baby matters. Thanks a million, guys. Looking forward immensely to being back in the ranks and helping take us further forward next year.

Anyway, that looks like a very very strong rag tags outfit for Thursday - no weak links at all, and one that will give us our stiffest challenge yet. I'd actually put them down as favourites man for man, but will our team consistency help??