Football news - The Warm-Up: Roy Hodgson has got something to say

Roy Hodgson is a septuagenarian, his whole working life has seen him live in a multitude of countries. This is a man of experience, who is well placed to assess the status of the country at the moment.

And in an open letter to Crystal Palace fans detailing the efforts the club have made to support the local community, the 72-year-old finishes off with some warm words for the National Health Service while also adding a reminder that it needs adequate funding.

“Finally, a word on our magnificent NHS. One simply cannot praise the staff too highly, in my opinion. I’ve always been a huge supporter of the NHS, they do and have always done a fantastic job. We’re so lucky in this country to have a system like it, I’ve always felt that we do have a fantastic service and now it’s being demonstrated to everyone so clearly, that the resources we put in are well spent. I hope it might in future make us more aware that if you want this level of service, it needs a certain level of economic support – and I’m hopeful it will come from our taxes.”

All fair and accurate points, and Hodgson goes on to make an erudite point regarding the funding of the funding of the service through charities with perhaps a reference to the #PlayersInitiative.

The above is a reminder that while a lot of clubs have a 'limited' lobbed on the end of their name at Companies House and are entities whose often stated aim is to monetise football, they remain social institutions there to serve the needs of the communities from which they came. It is important that those in positions of influence in said institutions stand tall for their communities in their hours of need.

So, absolutely spot on. Fund the NHS and not just through a crisis. Fund the NHS adequately at all times.

It is not a 'come and get me plea' quite yet but Harry Kane is, to coin another phrase exclusive to the transfer tittle-tattle lexicon, en route to the exit door at White Hart Lane.

The leaks over the weekend that Tottenham would sell for £200 million and that Kane would be open to a move to Manchester United will have come from somewhere - namely Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and Kane respectively.

It appears both sides are positioning themselves for the mother of all transfers/divorces [delete as appropriate] come perhaps the summer and there is already an air of inevitability about it.

It appears Kane's ambition will not wait for the Jose Mourinho re-build at the club while Tottenham are willing to do business at near world-record money.

The lockdown has allowed, in parts, for a period of reflection - and, on reflection, Jay-Jay Okocha never, ever got the respect he really deserved. At all.

He was so good. Anyway, the good people of Bolton put together a little snapshot of some of his greatest work in a Bolton shirt.

It was great.

10 whole hours of football.

There was 10 whole back-to-back hours of association football this weekend. Absolute scenes of it!

Danny Rose is a decent, decent human being.

Here he is doing the decent, decent thing. This is not a rarity but still!