Long haul travel is fine except for the damaged sleep patterns. You can feel as agile as Barnet’s defence in the daytime and as active as Manchester United’s attack in the middle of the night. And so, FootballCynic found himself awake in the middle of his first night on holiday, but, it should be said, relaxed. To occupy the mind, a challenge to find a league team with each letter of the alphabet as the fourth letter of the team’s name – starting, of course, at ‘a’.

‘A’ should be easy to get the puzzle going. But, it isn’t. Surely, FootballCynic, even in the middle of the night, can’t be stumped by ‘a’. Going round the country doesn’t help. London – Chelsea, Fulham, Brentford, Tottenham Hotspur, Millwall etc……up to Yorkshire – Barnsley, Leeds United, Bradford City, Huddersfield Town. No team has ‘a’ as the fourth letter. What about round the coast? Grimsby Town – ooh, FootballCynic thought he had it, Brighton - Southampton, Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle…..no luck.

Forty-five minutes pass and it seems as though there is no team with ‘a’ as the fourth letter. It’s time to give up and FootballCynic is starting to feel sleepy at last. Dreaming of a lazy day on the beach tomorrow, a haze descends and the failure subsides until with a start, FootballCynic awakes – “Wigan Athletic. Yes, Wigan Athletic – the fourth letter is ‘a’. And now, the transformation from dozy to awake as FootballCynic races through the alphabet – Derby County for ‘b’, Macclesfield Town for ‘c’, Reading, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday – or, Sheffield United, if you wish – it’s so easy – Brighton & Hove Albion, Fulham, then bang. ‘I’, another vowel and stuck again. Another 30 minutes, another “tour of the country” and FootballCynic gives up and thankfully falls asleep. There is no team with ‘I’ as the fourth letter, it transpires the next day. Time for a Singapore Sling by the pool.