English national football, where do we go from here?

[Furball]

If we did have a winter break the top teams would only end up jetting around the world chasing the cash playing lucerative friendlys no gain IMO.

Which aren't played at anywhere near the intensity of a Premiership match.

I reckon the players would benefit massively from a bit of down time after Christmas, with a couple of friendlies to maintain match sharpness.

 

[GIMH]

Messi gets booted from pillar to post by teams that can catch him.

Some of the treatment he's had, particularly at the hands of Real Madrid, has been easily as physical as anything I've seen in England.

You're kidding yourself even by your own standards if you think he wouldn't be more likely to get a kicking over here than he currently gets.

 

[sledger]

You're kidding yourself even by your own standards if you think he wouldn't be more likely to get a kicking over here than he currently gets.

Premiership is an easy league tbh.

 

[chalky]

Which aren't played at anywhere near the intensity of a Premiership match.

I reckon the players would benefit massively from a bit of down time after Christmas, with a couple of friendlies to maintain match sharpness.

The matches might not be tiring but I dare say flights to & from Dubai, Thailand, The USA, Abu Dabi may take it out of the players.

 

[grecian]

The matches might not be tiring but I dare say flights to & from Dubai, Thailand, The USA, Abu Dabi may take it out of the players.

Indeed, and it still doesn't answer how to fit in all the matches in less time, BTW you suck Chalky for today at least

Still the winter break has made Scotland a world power in international football, so maybe we should consider it....

 

[Uppercut]

The winter break's a proposal to get rid of the only time of year when it's better to be a fan than a player.

Cutting down the league to 18 a great call tho, imo.

 

[grecian]

The winter break's a proposal to get rid of the only time of year when it's better to be a fan than a player.

Cutting down the league to 18 a great call tho, imo.

Yep, and it's pushed by lots of Journos who want to spend January in Thailand and Dubai.

 

[GIMH]

Would hate to see the Prem reduced, just from a purely selfish POV, but I suspect most fans of clubs outside it would agree

 

[Uppercut]

Yep, and it's pushed by lots of Journos who want to spend January in Thailand and Dubai.

It's like you said, I completely fail to see how compressing the existing fixture list into a significantly shorter period of time is supposed to improve the fitness of the players.

 

[sledger]

Would hate to see the Prem reduced, just from a purely selfish POV, but I suspect most fans of clubs outside it would agree

Dunno, cutting matches like Blackburn vs West Brom out of the Premiership calendar is unlikely to upset anyone who isn't a fan of either of those two sides tbh

 

[aussie]

Yeah, reduce to Prem to 18 teams and that's 4 less games.

Would say ditch the League Cup too, but the larger clubs use it to give the stiffs/yoofs a run out nowadays.

Actually not just the bigger clubs and not just the League Cup too; FA Cup looking more and more like an unwelcome distraction from finishing 17th in the Prem for some teams.

Ye get rid of the carling up. Its a useless competition really. Main players @ times would have to play in it, especially for the Big 4 club where most of the ENG stars usually are from. Thats an extra burded now given that the Europa League has become a priority. Spain & Italy dont have such a competition either.

Just keep the Premiership (reduce it to 18 teams as you suggested), FA Cup & of course in Europe with the CL or EL. The Carling cup is too much.

 

[aussie]

If we did have a winter break the top teams would only end up jetting around the world chasing the cash playing lucerative friendlys no gain IMO.

Hopefully this is where the clubs & FA can sit down & agree sensibly to prevent this from happening. Especially during a WC or EURO year.

 

[marc71178]

Or, you could just keep the current system and allow the fans to enjoy what is one of the best times of the season - the Xmas and New Year program.

 

[cpr]

Yeah, surely a break would be better just before easter? Your only at halfway through the program at Christmas, if that, let alone the burdens of the FA Cup to come. If players get used to a break after the easy half of the season, they are going to be just as jaded at the end of the campaign. Break after 2/3rds, come back fresh and raring to go

 

[aussie]

Or, you could just keep the current system and allow the fans to enjoy what is one of the best times of the season - the Xmas and New Year program.

Well yes, we dont have to copy Spain, Italy, Germany & have the winter break during the christmas & new-year period. Thats unique for us, although i do wonder if the players themselves wouldn't like to be home with their loved ones during christmas.

Yeah, surely a break would be better just before easter? Your only at halfway through the program at Christmas, if that, let alone the burdens of the FA Cup to come. If players get used to a break after the easy half of the season, they are going to be just as jaded at the end of the campaign. Break after 2/3rds, come back fresh and raring to go.

Yea sounds good. Time for the bigger heads to sit down & make something a reality ASAP.

 

[marc71178]

Personally I'm not sure a break is that feasible - the number of games postponed leading to fixture backlogs each year causes a big problem (especially since the bad weather seems to come at different times every year)

 

[Furball]

The answer (in Scotland anyway) is summer football, though I'm aware that it's completely unfeasable in England.

 

[sledger]

Arguably such a break is a potentially detrimental idea anyway, as Mark has already suggested, a big fixture backlog meaning a lot of games having to be pressed into a very short space of time could do more harm than good. It's important to bear in mind that having a break won't actually mean that players have to play less games, as some people seem to assume.

 

[Furball]

Start the season 2 weeks earlier/finish it 2 weeks later and give players 2 weeks off after Christmas to recharge their batteries.

 

[sledger]

In a World Cup year would that actually do any good though, it would mean a load of players go more or less straight from the end of the season into World Cup training, and then those players who have an extensive World Cup get to the final or whatever and then have minimal time off before it is pre-season again.