The season starts

I've been away for the last week (thanks very much to Tom for filling in, you'll read more from him in future), but the 2008/09 season has officially started.

Playing in Europe provides a different dynamic to the start of the season. Rather than starting with the drama of opening day, we are eased in slowly over the course of five weeks.

It is the blank slate which makes opening day so meaningful. Anything is possible - and on that first afternoon the great unknowns: which players, and in which formation, are revealed to the fans. Last year at the Boleyn Ground was my most exciting moment as a City fan; the limitless expectations were not simply punctured by opening day but actually extended - something completely novel to me as a City fan.

But this experience: the seasons' plans revealed to us on one sun drenched Saturday afternoon, is to be denied to us this year. Instead, Mark Hughes' great plans are to be unveiled to us piece by tentative piece. Barring a disaster at Oakwell next week, we will have played three competitive matches by the time of our trip to Villa Park in twenty seven days time.

So, rather than the dramatic, sudden re-entry to competitive football, we are to be eased in over time. And the usual build up of anticipation, focussing on one particular August afternoon, is rather misplaced. After the explosive, definitive opening and closing games last year, a more gradual or stable approach won't be so bad.