It’s been a bit like being stuck inside an episode of ‘Hospital Requests’ in these parts lately as one Ireland player after another hobbles in to speak to us of their injury woes.

Sky Sports attempted to inject a little Hollywood glamour into proceedings at the Etihad yesterday, parading Tom Cruise and Robert Duvall in front of the cameras before kick-off.

One small problem with Uefa’s vision for Euro 2020 – it lacks 20-20 vision.

There can surely only be a few striking days to Christmessi now.

Giovanni Trapattoni can baffle and beguile in equal measure but when you eliminate the charm and strip his infamous Trappish right down to the bone, you’re invariably left with the impression that he views us lads and lassies of the media as plain, simple folk whose understanding of higher matters like the game of football leaves just about everything to be desired.

Back in April when it was scored most everyone agreed that Chris Forrester’s exquisite goal for St Patrick’s Athletic against Shamrock Rovers — a scooped lob which was as immaculate as it was audacious — would not be bettered in the Airtricity League this season.

The managerial merry-go-round has stopped spinning, at least for now, but experience tells us that it won’t be long before it’s cranked up to full speed again.

Chatting to Packie Bonner this week, ahead of Celtic’s cruel defeat in Barcelona, I was somewhat taken aback when he didn’t hesitate for a second to hail Lionel Messi as the greatest footballer of all time.

Brian Kerr was treated like a home-coming hero on our trip to the Faroe Islands this week, the former manager of the country’s national team an instantly recognisable and transparently popular figure with the locals from the moment our plane touched down at the homely little international airport which, set amidst a wild and stunningly beautiful landscape, makes the visitor feel like he’s landed in the heart of Connemara.

Because I was unfortunately unavailable owing to Irish Examiner duties, the admirable BBC chief foreign correspondent Lyse Doucet stepped in to give the Royal Television Society’s Huw Wheldon lecture the other night on the rise of social media and its increasing relevance to broadcast journalism.