I ADMIRE Harry Redknapp's positivity, I really do, but should we even allow ourselves to believe we could win the Premier League next season?

Stranger things have happened in recent football history, I admit. Greece winning the European Championships in 2004...err...that might be about it, actually.

Going further back, Blackburn winning the league in 1995 might stand up as a good domestic parable but, in mitigation, two things made their win a lot easier.

The first was that the Lancashire club's triumph was before the big-budget era of multi-million pound wages, astronomical transfer fees and shady foreign money-men with the first name 'Sheikh' edging smaller clubs out of the title race.

The second was Alan Shearer.

The fact that we haven't yet made one notable addition to our squad this summer, nor clarified the situation regarding a number of players who may or may not be about to move on, makes old Redders' claim even more incredulous.

I'm a natural optimist. I believe we will win silverware this season although, realistically, it will be either the League Cup or the FA Cup.

Would we go on to win the Europa League if we got knocked out of the Champions League at the appropriate point? I know not.

For the time being, I think I'll take Harry's comments with a hefty dose of salt.

I believed England could win the World Cup in South Africa. I've been burned before.