Dear football,

It goes without saying that I’m going to miss you. But while we’re taking this break maybe you could use the time to think how you should change.

Please know what I’m about to say comes from a place of sincerest love — but also liberation, for I have not set eyes on you for, what, ten days now and realise I don’t need you to survive.

So that’s the first thing. You’ve become a bit too full of yourself when the truth is you’re not as important as you thought. We are always hearing, via the marketing of your clubs, governing bodies and brands that you’re “more than a game”, that what happens on the field “means more” than this or that.