It’s been a busy week for us here at Umbro, what with the England shirt launch and what not, but there’s been plenty going on in the world of football around us as well. One of the most hysterical things to happen surely must be the reaction to Ashley Cole’s injury, and the suggestion that England only have two left backs. Over at Who Ate All The Pies, the reasonable suggestion that Leighton Baines, Stephen Warnock and Kieron Gibbs could all step into Ashley’s shoes along with Wayne Bridge if the Chelsea player fails to recover in time is made, in a succint but convincing manner.

The …Pies team get a double mention this week, thanks to this brilliant gallery that they’ve put together featuring some current England in their younger days. One question we have to ask though – why can none of them find a shirt that isn’t 10 sizes too big for them?

The award for the best slice of footie nostalgia this week must go to Football Spotter though, who have captured a sticker album from Italia ’90 in glorious detail. Not sure whether it’s the particular footballing memories of Umbro’s staff, the nostalgia of sticker collecting or the sheer joy of browsing through this collection to spot some absurd mullets and players who’ve gone on to do other things (Gianluca Vialli! With hair!) but it’s proved to be the most absorbing moment in football we’ve found this week.

Slightly more seriously, we have to give a shout to a favourite site of ours for two of their long running features. Some People Are On The Pitch is a great site, and home to two very handy features. First of all, the Friday List Of Little Or No Consequence – a random rundown of football-related trivia, sometimes serious, and sometimes silly, but always worth reading. And secondly, a round-up of the matches that are on telly this weekend, and what channels they’re on. Simple enough, but how many times have you stumbled around trying to find out this information?

Finally this week, after mentioning statistics and sticker collecting, we have to mention another great footballing hobby – ground ticking. The act of visiting as many grounds as possible is an art form in itself, and the ability to travel to a host of new grounds and sample the atmosphere and pies of a different venue is surely one of the only good things about being relegated. It can also help to forge unusual support for certain teams – as this article over at When Saturday Comes explains, Hull City fans would like Nottingham Forest to get promoted to the Premier League, because it’s 33 years since they last visited the City Ground. The gallows humour of most football fans also comes to the fore here, with the realisation that the same result could be achieved if Forest don’t get promoted, and Hull get relegated.