Defenders or Eastenders?

The scorelines belong in the 1930s but the coverage does not. Far from reading about the goalscoring heroics of a centre forward or the bravery of a plucky goalkeeper (for he's a jolly good fellow!) the back pages remain rooted in the drudgery of 2012.

There were 37 goals in the fourth round of the League Cup, the highest number since 1964. This came off the back of a Premier League weekend containing a pulsating Merseyside derby and a top of the table clash, not to mention a 3-3 draw between Reading and Fulham complete with four late goals.

You'd be forgiven for not realising what an exciting week of football it has been. Handshakes, t-shirts, Twitter and name-calling continue to take all the headlines. Why have we allowed the 'beautiful game' to be dragged down to this level? I can't be the only one to find the soap opera surrounding and engulfing the top level of English football a big turn-off.

And no, I'm not trivialising the race issue that has erupted from a few isolated albeit high-profile incidents. We'd be foolish to think racism had ever been eradicated from football in this country. It remains a part of wider society and as such will always have an unwelcome presence in sport no matter how much work is done to kick it out.

But let's not talk ourselves into believing we have major issues. As a sporting fraternity and a society we're not mired in the problems facing Serbia for example. In The Sun newspaper Rob Beasley opens his piece on Chelsea's to-and-fro 5-4 extra-time win over Manchester United with the following: 'It took only a matter of seconds for the racial abuse to break out at Stamford Bridge'. What had he heard? United fans chanting "where's your racist centre half?" towards suspended John Terry. That clearly does not constitute racial abuse.

Isolated incidents of racism become huge stories partly because they are so rare. The Luis Suarez affair was handled appallingly by Liverpool FC and became a bigger story because of it. John Terry and Anton Ferdinand's row was dragged out for months because of the inexplicably long wait for the judicial process to run its course and then the subsequent Football Association investigation.

In both cases the choreographed nonsense surrounding matches exacerbated the problems. I don't think I've spoken to another fan who thinks the pre-match 'fair play' handshake does anyone any good. It disrupts the excitement which builds leading into a game. What was wrong with two teams, led by their captains, running out of the tunnel to opposite ends of the ground? After the game they can shake hands signalling an end to 90 minutes of competitive hostility.

The talk after a game should be focused on footballing issues. Tactics, performances, managers and naturally and unavoidably referees. We aren't short of talking points. Brendan Rodgers, Martin O'Neill, Mark Hughes and Roberto Mancini are all said to be under varying degrees of pressure. The latter’s experiment with a back three is an interesting tactical development. Last year’s two-horse race looks to have a third runner while at the other end Southampton’s matches have seen goals galore. Summer imports have had mixed fortunes. Michu and Hazard have impressed but Anita and Lloris have struggled for game time.

We need to remember that for all the column inches and phone-in calls it generates, the ‘drama’ of a handshake snub or nasty tweet can never and will never beat the genuine drama and excitement of a last minute winner or comeback from 4-0 down. There’s a reason football’s worldwide success eclipses that of WWE. Let’s not forget it.