My first blog of 2011 is a little late in coming, but the points are (hopefully) still valid. After my fill of Turkey and Quality Street fudge (the ones the missus doesn't like) I sat down to write a blog regarding the idea of a winter break in the English game.
Now this premise has been banded around since the turn of the millennium, but it has gathered pace in recent years, due in no small part to the inclement weather and therefore the Saturday morning decimation of our football fixtures.
Here, presented in an argumentative style, is the proposition of a winter break in England:
GOOD:
No more games being called off; this season has seen some shockingly boring editions of Soccer Saturday, Match of the Day and The Football League Show due to the sheer amount of games abandoned due to snow/frozen pitch/frozen pipes etc. It also destroys the accuracy of a league table when every club has played a different number of games.
The safety of supporters should also never be overlooked. But as the Jeremy Clarksonites among us would point out the health and safety nuts would have games postponed due to a badger straying onto the side of the M6, causing it to be closed for several hours and having a knock on effect on any north v south fixture.
BAD:
Gary Neville made an interesting point on MUTV the other night (he seems to be appearing on the channel more and more as both he and Sir Alex realise he has lost his footballing ability quicker than Michael Ricketts) if we introduce a winter break the fixtures have to be squeezed in elseswhere and how would that work?
There is also the simple TRADITION of the festive period being a boom time for football. Boxing Day games and all those before and after have an extra spice due to the time of year.
SOLUTIONS:
If a winter break is to be a viable option certain aspects of our game would have to alter alongside it. For example there is no way a break would work for Football League divisions, there are simply too many fixtures. Even the Premier League would struggle and therefore a reduction to 18 teams would be the only way to fully accommodate the changes.
Another radical step would be all those teams involved in European competition foregoing entry into the Carling Cup, thus freeing up valuable midweek fixture slots for Premier League games to be contested.
I think a break would be a bad thing for the game, but it would be understandable if it were to happen...and thanks to the masterminds at FIFA it looks like we will get to see what a winter break would be like when our beloved Christmas schedule is replaced by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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