THERE IS not too much football going on at the minute but I did see Man City donated 26 defibrillators to local clubs.

And defibrillators are really amazing, you saw Christian Eriksen – if it hadn’t have been for one of those coming on he’d have been gone. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.

I’ve been in every division as a manager but when I was up north in the Yorkshire area, I was a coach with Sheffield Wednesday, there was a legend in the lower divisions who I would meet up with at games. His name was Ernie Moss, who has sadly died.

He had 12 clubs as a player, seven more as a coach – all in the lower level. He was a real legend in the lower leagues but those higher up may not know him.

Another thing I’ve noticed is in the Manchester area, in Wakefield, there was a fella who started walking football for the over-50s. There was only half a dozen of them then, but he’s got about 50 now.

It’s a great thing for people of that age, men and women, people who like to go for walks. To walk and play football at the same time, which is a passion when you’re younger, is brilliant.

In the north east, two of my friends were Brendan Foster and Steve Cram, both famous in their own way for representing their country in athletics.

Like a lot of oldies, they carried on afterwards and I remember being asked to open the stadium in Gateshead.

I got a call from one of my family recently to switch on BBC Two as what was called the Diamond Athletic Games were on TV and being held in the stadium in Gateshead.

Full marks to people like Brendan and Steve and I’m delighted things they started off have been carried on in a brilliant way.

Now, with probably the biggest sporting occasion next to the football World Cup, the Olympic Games are up and running in Tokyo and one of the first events was a ladies football match.

It’s of a lot of interest to me as for many years I have been involved in the Special Olympics, which is for those with an intellectual disability.

The biggest event for the Special Olympics is the National Olympics which come up every year or two, and then their own World Olympics every four years.

The similarity of course is it gives youngsters, who have trained regularly, whether it’s as hot as it is now or pouring with rain to get out and about, to keep themselves fit.

The biggest part of it is getting together, the Special Olympics is good for families who have children with intellectual disabilities to meet up and the youngsters find out what sport they liked playing, whether it be basketball, swimming or football etc. To then get picked to represent your club at county level, or into national level was amazing to see.

To get to travel to different parts of the world, and that is exactly what we will be seeing in the next few weeks.

It was an awful long time ago but I got a call off the people in London, I didn’t have a clue what it was all about but it was just getting started up in this country, after being started by the Kennedy family in USA – who had a member of their family with intellectual disabilities – and then going all over the world.

They asked would I be interested, could I help them out? I was managing at the time and attended one or two meetings and realised the good work they could do and carried it on over the years.

The last few years I’ve left it to other younger people who are doing a great job in much more difficult conditions.

But, hopefully things are beginning to change as it will with the football.

Football for many, many people is an opportunity to get out at the weekend, regardless of what’s happening on the field, they’re meeting up with friends, possibly down a pub or café an hour or two before kick-off and it’s the highlight of their week. Like everyone, I’ll certainly be looking at the Olympics and hoping our Team GB athletes will do well.

It’s a good reminder that some of these youngsters have been training for many years to get there and for most of them and their families, who take them out and about, the greatest honour is representing their country – I hope they can come home with a medal.

Finally, a friend of mine who is a Norwich City fan said to me he was pleased that the club have given their manager Daniel Farke a new contract. He didn’t want to see a newspaper headline with the manager’s surname followed by the word off.