It’s Time for English Football to Make a Break for Winter
It is Christmas time and the goose is getting fat as they say!
It is also that time of year when the English football season goes into overdrive. Our four professional leagues make silly demands on our footballers to ask them to play four games in the space of ten days while the rest of Europe’s stars put their feet up and roast chestnuts over an open fire.
I know the arguments will come flooding out about how much these players earn and it is the least they can do to entertain the rest of us mere mortals during the festivities.
However, I would argue that the fans are getting robbed of quality football by the time it comes to watching the New Year’s Day clash.
Wafer thin squads already rocked by injuries could be tipped over the edge in this demanding spell with managers opting to ‘rest’ key players as they try and scrape through certain games to prepare for what they perceive to be a trickier test later in the week.
In a nutshell, this crazy period could make or break a side’s title or European aspirations, while teams in the lower reaches could be up to their necks in the proverbial muck in the space of a week if things don’t go to plan.
My own team Middlesbrough have been handed a harsh deal by the fixture list. After a home game against West Ham at the Riverside on Saturday December 22, it is a trip to Birmingham on Boxing Day then off to the south coast for a match at Portsmouth, before returning to the Riverside for Everton on January 1.
I doubt manager Gareth Southgate and his men will see their families anytime between the end of the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day until the day before New Year’s Eve. It does not matter who earns what, everyone deserves the chance to spend some time with loved ones at this time of year so why should footballers be any different?
Personally I enjoy going to games at this time of year and have the excuse of my job to fall back on, but how many families end up at war when a huge planned get-together of the clan on Boxing Day is wrecked by the notable absence of several members who have gone to the match instead?
Therefore I propose a two-week break from after the December 22 game and a return to action for the FA Cup third round in early January will be a good move for everyone.
Written by Craig Smithson, a Middlesbrough season-ticket holder and a professional sports writer who blogs about football betting at Betfair.
Topics: English Premier League, Help Football
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Aww, poor footballers only being paid 140,000 + a week and they have to play during christmas.. Appauling!!
Really, who cares this could be good for the non-Big Four team’s to get higher up the table, and the second-fiddle players from teams can get the run-outs they have been wanting, and could play good football and maybe play more first-team action.
My Arsenal though, do not have it too bad as players like Gilberto,Jens (while they are still at the Emirates) plus Theo and co. would be fine to play.
December 19th, 2007 @ 10:10Nop. love the football far too much to have a break.football for me goes along with christmas.makes a good combo.
December 19th, 2007 @ 10:53xmas would not be the same without the footie!
December 19th, 2007 @ 13:07They could stop playing football altogether and the league could be won by “shortest straw” – then they’ll never be knackered & we’ll never be entertained (which i guess is already the case for ‘boro fans)
With regards to “this crazy period could make or break a side’s title or European aspirations” does this exclude the three English clubs that were in last years champions league SEMI’S, and your very own club Boro making the Uefa Final a couple of years back. The German’s have a winter break yet only Shalke have made it to the knockout stage this year in a group with the tragedy that is Valencia in it and Stuttgart finished bottom in a group with Rangers in it, and Bremen finished 5 points behind the awesome Olympiacos.
All in all – utter nonsense, but thanks for giving us something to respond to
December 19th, 2007 @ 15:33simonthered – Why is it utter nonsense? For what reason should any club/team/player have to play four times in ten days? There is absolutely no reason for it! The players deserve a Christmas break as much as you or I do, the amount they earn should have nothing to with it either.
Most players from the EPL who play international football look burnt out due to the English fixture schedule. It all ties together and for me the utter nonsense is the fact that four games in ten days actually happens whilst players from leagues around the world get a couple of days off.
Football and the Christmas break does go well together, but football at anytime works well for me.
December 20th, 2007 @ 09:17Simonthered – Germany get to world cup semis and finals and qualify for every tournament, England do not…
Owen Hargreaves was our best player in 2006 and he was the only one who had a month’s winter break, hmmmmm
December 22nd, 2007 @ 23:00