No Worthington, no way

Playerwatch: Another one bites the dust - Jon Worthington, who did a decent job for us on loan from Huddersfield for a couple of months last season has signed for Oldham. There were hopes that he'd be back at Huish Park next season, but in my view they were always going to be unfounded. The way he left us was unsatisfactory - he was sent back to Huddersfield with only around 24 hours of the loan transfer deadline left, not really enough time to find another club and I remember thinking at the time that if we were serious about getting him back we would have treated him - and Huddersfield - with a little more respect. Ho hum.

Formerplayerwatch: Chris Cohen has signed a new 4-year deal at Nottingham Forest. Not sure if we've got a sell-on percentage if he gets transferred or not, but with him signing a new contract it doesn't look like he's going anywhere anyway. Team-mate Arron Davies meanwhile appears to be becoming more and more peripheral to Forest's squad - it would be no surprise to see him either transferred or out on loan next season.

Meanwhile the bookies have begun putting out their odds for next season and yet again we're favourites for the drop. Or to be more accurate, we're rank outsiders for the title - 80/1, along with Stockport. I was mildly surprised to see the likes of Exeter and Gillingham being slightly more fanciable at 50/1 and my eyebrows were raised even higher to see Brentford installed at 33/1. To my mind the gap between the top of L2 and the bottom of L1 is a large one, and I can see all the promoted clubs struggling next season. It's a bit early to be making predictions yet however, let's see how the squads are built up over the next couple of months before saying too much. What is predictable is to see who the bookies are regarding as favourites - Leeds at 10/3, followed by Norwich at 13/2 and Charlton at 15/2. Actually, the way Charlton finished the season they may well be worth a small flutter...

Currently reading: Dammed Good Show by Derek Robinson. I read the author's Goshawk Squadron a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it and this is a worthy successor. It follows the travails of a bomber squadron in the first two years of the Second World War. It's got Robinson's trademark black humour in spades but never loses sight of the horror of war and what it does to otherwise ordinary people. Highly recommended.

Currently watching: Series 1 & 2 of The Wire. First started getting into The Wire halfway through season 2 on the FX channel two or three years ago and have watched it semi-religiously since; so I was very pleased to see that at last one of the main channels had taken the plunge and bought it. BBC 2 are showing all 5 series back to back, 3 episodes a week. Overkill for an ordinary tv show, but The Wire ain't no ordinary tv show. It packs the same kind of punch as shows like The Sopranos or Band Of Brothers but exceeds both of them in terms of it's depth and extended storylines. If you ain't seen it, it's not too late to start watching now.

Currently playing: Death Magnetic by Metallica. Let's raaaawwwwwkkk!