Premiership Winter Break?

[Fugazi]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7071846.stm

 

Senior Premier League players have demanded a winter break in a survey conducted by BBC Sport.

 

The players' union representative at each Premier League club was contacted - and 13 of the 15 who responded called for a mid-season break.

 

Everton and England defender Phil Neville told BBC Sport: "It will get the players fresh and revitalised.

 

"Then England might go into a European Championship or World Cup fresher and with a better chance of winning."

 

England and Portugal are the only major leagues in Europe without a mid-season break.

 

BBC Sport has discovered widespread support for the introduction of a break in the Premier League programme:

 

    * Uefa believes it could dramatically reduce the number of injuries sustained by players in the run-up to major championships. They say there are four times as many injuries in the Premier League in April and May as in leagues with a winter break.

 

    * Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson argues England would have a better chance of success in major tournaments if a break was introduced

 

    * England international Phil Neville believes more players could retire from international duty unless something is done to improve their schedule

 

    * The Premier League advocates a break, but says the current schedule makes it impractical

 

Manchester City boss Eriksson pushed for a winter break when he was England manager - and is still in favour.

 

"I'm sure it would be very good for English football, at both club and international level," he told BBC Sport.

 

"If the will is there, you could easily fit it in. I am sure it would be good for the national team when they go to a big tournament and for the clubs playing in Europe. They would be fresher at the end of the season.

 

"You would then have time to heal small injuries and recover mentally. Talking to all the managers in this country - as I have done - they all agree.

 

"And I'm sure you can't find one football player here who wouldn't love to have a break."

 

Neville, who is the PFA representative at Everton, called for a campaign to be started for the introduction of a winter break.

 

"It's something all the top managers - Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger - all want," he said.

 

"There needs to be one hell of a campaign for it. The top managers, footballers, supporters and television people are all going to have to get round a table and say 'this is what's best for English football'.

 

"The other best leagues in the world - Italy, Spain and Germany - have a winter break, so why doesn't England?"

 

Medical evidence seems to support the introduction of a break.

 

Jan Ekstrand, vice chair of Uefa's medical committee, has carried out detailed research on the subject.

 

He told BBC Sport: "What we found was that in the first part of the season, up to December, the injuries were about the same for the English teams and teams from other parts of Europe.

 

"But in the last part of the season there was a higher injury risk in England.

 

 

 

"The amazing thing was that the risk was about double in January, February and March, but in April and May it was four times higher compared to teams that do have a winter break.

 

"We don't know the exact reason, but it's reasonable to assume it could be correlated to the lack of a winter break."

 

He also believes the metatarsal injuries suffered by England stars such as Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Gary Neville in recent seasons can be partly attributed to the lack of a winter break.

 

"We have collected x-rays for players suffering from metatarsal fractures and can see that they have stress signs on the metatarsal bones," Ekstrand told BBC Sport.

 

"We consider most of them stress injuries - the bone is weakened by fatigue of the bone.

 

"We know from other sports that if you continue and don't have a rest, you have problem with injuries."

 

Yet the domestic schedule seems to preclude the introduction of a mid-season break.

 

Premier League spokesman Dan Johnson explained: "In principle we agree with a winter break, but we have yet to work out logistically how that would fit in.

 

"Nobody has come up with a plan that would mean we could fit all our fixtures into the season.

 

"In England, we're in a fairly strange position in that we have two Cup competitions.

 

"Unless those competitions change their format and how they operate, be it replays or two-legged semi-finals, there is just not space for it to fit a break in."

 

 

"SELECTED QUOTES FROM QUESTIONNAIRES

If we don't have one, players will be burnt out or carrying injuries come major championships

 

110% yes! We should have a break in January

 

It would be a massive lift for everyone connected to football clubs, except perhaps the money men

 

Why are we different to the rest of Europe when it comes to this?

 

A chance to recharge batteries and overcome injury niggles"

 

Not sure why the photo in the article is of Rooney with an impact injury.

 

Any chance of this actually happening then? Fitting it in certainly wouldn't be easy.

[Guest Toon Saint]

Pile of pish tbh.

[thewellander]

It would be hard to fit it in without extending the end of the competition, which would mean there would be less time to prepare and recover for the World Cup and Euros. It's hard to argue with the players, though. They know better than we do whether or not they need breaks.

[Guest gggg]

If they had their way they wouldn't play at all. 150 grand a week indeed.

[Wullie]

The players want a break, well there's a fucking surprise.

 

The trouble with a winter break in this country is that the weather is notoriously changeable through January and February. If you shoehorn more games into February then even a handful get called off, you run the risk of a huge fixture pile up (especially if you're playing Middlesbrough, who will call games off up to three weeks beforehand in case you're coming from a far-away land like Newcastle). And there's no way they're taking Christmas football away from us in case they thought twice about that one.

 

Managers are constantly moaning about fixture pile-ups anyway, that PFA bloke's been whinging today about Steven Gerrard having to play 6 games in 18 days, so how is taking two weeks out and putting those games in elsewhere supposed to help? I believe a few European leagues would actually like to abolish it, I know Beckenbauer wants it gone from Germany. One of the reasons we keep getting so many teams to the late stages of European competition is because we play through and can keep going and maintain form, while it can take European sides a while to get themselves going again after the break. I don't remember clubs whining about fatigue when three of them were in the Champions League semi final last season.

 

It's just another excuse for the failure of the England team, a short sighted way to avoid the major issue of British coaching at grassroots level. We're probably not even going to qualify for the next tournament and that's got jack shit to do with not having a winter break. The players should shut the fuck up and get on with it. If they're not happy with their job and their million pound minimum salary, they can go and get a bar job.

[Shearer9]

Don't get rid of the winter break.  I'm not so harsh as Wullie, but UEFA could take some steps to reduce fixtures for the bigger clubs by cutting out the meaningless games played in the CL/UEFA Cup, and also trimming these competitions a bit.  I think the size of domestic top flight leagues could be trimmed as well, because the bigger the league the bigger the cost to the fans through tickets and travel, and it also oversaturates the fixture list when there are so many cup and European tickets to buy. 

 

There's another article in there about cricket, and I think the cricketers have it far worse.  Cricket is really intense mentally, and England has the biggest problems with this tbh.  Depression and suicide are pretty high amongst cricketers IIRC.  They have to spend 4/5 months per year away in hotels on the Subcontinent, in Africa, Australia, the Carribean, etc.  That has to do a number on someone's head.  There are also too many meaningless games.  Why does England need to play a 7-game ODI series?  After 4 test matches as well?  Add that to the media circus that the British press enforces, and it really puts the pressure one.

 

I think this has also caused other injury problems.  Look at the players who played in the 2005 ashes:

 

    * Michael Vaughan © (Yorkshire)

    * Geraint Jones (wk) (Kent)

    * James Anderson, b (Lancashire)

    * Ian Bell (Warwickshire)

    * Paul Collingwooda, b (Durham)

    * Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)

    * Ashley Giles (Warwickshire)

    * Steve Harmison (Durham)

    * Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire)

    * Simon Jones (Glamorgan)

    * Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)

    * Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)

    * Chris Tremlett, b (Hampshire)

    * Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)

 

Strauss and Trescothick have had mental problems, Vaughan has had the constant knee problems, it looks like Flintoff's career is being seriously curtailed by injury, Giles had to retire because of injury, Jones, Hoggard, and Harmison have all spent significant time out due to injury.  At one point this summer, all 4 major bowlers from that summer were out with serious injury. 

 

[biggs]

Don't get rid of the winter break.  I'm not so harsh as Wullie, but UEFA could take some steps to reduce fixtures for the bigger clubs by cutting out the meaningless games played in the CL/UEFA Cup, and also trimming these competitions a bit.  I think the size of domestic top flight leagues could be trimmed as well, because the bigger the league the bigger the cost to the fans through tickets and travel, and it also oversaturates the fixture list when there are so many cup and European tickets to buy. 

 

There's another article in there about cricket, and I think the cricketers have it far worse.  Cricket is really intense mentally, and England has the biggest problems with this tbh.  Depression and suicide are pretty high amongst cricketers IIRC.  They have to spend 4/5 months per year away in hotels on the Subcontinent, in Africa, Australia, the Carribean, etc.  That has to do a number on someone's head.  There are also too many meaningless games.  Why does England need to play a 7-game ODI series?  After 4 test matches as well?  Add that to the media circus that the British press enforces, and it really puts the pressure one.

 

I think this has also caused other injury problems.  Look at the players who played in the 2005 ashes:

 

    * Michael Vaughan © (Yorkshire)

    * Geraint Jones (wk) (Kent)

    * James Anderson, b (Lancashire)

    * Ian Bell (Warwickshire)

    * Paul Collingwooda, b (Durham)

    * Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire)

    * Ashley Giles (Warwickshire)

    * Steve Harmison (Durham)

    * Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire)

    * Simon Jones (Glamorgan)

    * Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)

    * Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)

    * Chris Tremlett, b (Hampshire)

    * Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)

 

Strauss and Trescothick have had mental problems, Vaughan has had the constant knee problems, it looks like Flintoff's career is being seriously curtailed by injury, Giles had to retire because of injury, Jones, Hoggard, and Harmison have all spent significant time out due to injury.  At one point this summer, all 4 major bowlers from that summer were out with serious injury. 

 

I feel so sorry for these sportsman on small wages and having such a stressfull job in football and cricket . mackems.gif

[Guest nufc_geordie]

The players want a break, well there's a f****** surprise.

 

The trouble with a winter break in this country is that the weather is notoriously changeable through January and February. If you shoehorn more games into February then even a handful get called off, you run the risk of a huge fixture pile up (especially if you're playing Middlesbrough, who will call games off up to three weeks beforehand in case you're coming from a far-away land like Newcastle). And there's no way they're taking Christmas football away from us in case they thought twice about that one.

 

Managers are constantly moaning about fixture pile-ups anyway, that PFA bloke's been whinging today about Steven Gerrard having to play 6 games in 18 days, so how is taking two weeks out and putting those games in elsewhere supposed to help? I believe a few European leagues would actually like to abolish it, I know Beckenbauer wants it gone from Germany. One of the reasons we keep getting so many teams to the late stages of European competition is because we play through and can keep going and maintain form, while it can take European sides a while to get themselves going again after the break. I don't remember clubs whining about fatigue when three of them were in the Champions League semi final last season.

 

It's just another excuse for the failure of the England team, a short sighted way to avoid the major issue of British coaching at grassroots level. We're probably not even going to qualify for the next tournament and that's got jack s*** to do with not having a winter break. The players should shut the f*** up and get on with it. If they're not happy with their job and their million pound minimum salary, they can go and get a bar job.

 

Agree 100%, see my new post about do players play too much football.

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

aaaaah poor loves expecting to do the jobs they are overpaid for.

As was said if they don't like it get a job on a building site, up and down ladders in the middle of winter might shake them up a bit.

As for cricketers its such a boring sport they can spend most of their time on the outfield scrathing their boll ocks.

The rest of the time they spend getting rat-arsed.

 

 

[madras]

would they actually have a winter break ?. check the friendlies played by german teams during their winter break.

[Guest alex]

It's not about stress or how much money they make. It's about physical 'burn-out'. If it's good for the players' physical well-being it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand because they earn £X a week.

[Disco]

Couldn't take away the christmas schedule, one of the best things about the season. Love boxing day and new year games.

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

would they actually have a winter break ?. check the friendlies played by german teams during their winter break.

 

Good point, give the loves a winter break and they would all be off to the middle east playing meaningless friendlies.

I love football but sometimes I can't stand footballers.

 

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

bin the shit meaningless england friendlies for a start. every one takes 2 weeks out of the season and we dont benefit in any way from them. plus, a rethink of the qualification format for the world cup/euro champs wouldnt go a miss. do the bigger teams really need to play such god awful teams like Kazakhstan and San Marino?

 

and squad rotation seems like such a simple answer. 

[GM]

bin the shit meaningless england friendlies for a start. every one takes 2 weeks out of the season and we dont benefit in any way from them.

 

I can see where you're coming from on one level about friendly matches, but what's important is having an opportunity for the England manager (even if the current one is an arse) to gel a group of players together in training sessions - and friendly games are an important part of thaty process - to form a coherent squad who relate well on the pitch when the big games do come round.

 

plus, a rethink of the qualification format for the world cup/euro champs wouldnt go a miss. do the bigger teams really need to play such god awful teams like Kazakhstan and San Marino?

 

How else do you propose to encourage the growth and development of the game in other countries unless they have an opportunity to match themselves off against the more established "bigger" international teams? Just because qualification for England is now looking dodgy it seems people are suggesting that England have a birthright to qualification and only now are they asking "how dare these small, insignificant nations want to take part?"

 

and squad rotation seems like such a simple answer.

 

Agreed - it does seem like a simple answer.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

bin the s*** meaningless england friendlies for a start. every one takes 2 weeks out of the season and we dont benefit in any way from them. plus, a rethink of the qualification format for the world cup/euro champs wouldnt go a miss. do the bigger teams really need to play such god awful teams like Kazakhstan and San Marino?

 

and squad rotation seems like such a simple answer. 

 

I was going to post something similar in the other thread...

 

Already this season England have played 4 qualifiers and a friendly, with another international break coming in the next few weeks

 

11 England games were played last season (including 2 in June).

 

Assuming we qualify for Euro 2008 and get to the final (its hard I know) then over a 2 year period since the last world cup the International calander puts on an additional half a season + in games.

 

Cut down on the international dross and bring back 3 European competitions with less games in each. Stuff a winter break, its great having rapid fire games over the Christmas period

 

[Dave]

Home internationals > Friendlies

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

fair point on the england friendlies. i still think they should just get the league over in april (with no international friendly breaks) and then at the start of may,  focus on the national team for a month before the tournament. they'll be well rested and have more time together as a team/squad.

 

im not against smaller teams taking part in qualification groups (ie. estonia, slovakia and georgia), but a team like san marino have only won 1 game in their history. if the team havent got a hope in hell of qualifying for the tournament, which is the whole point of these groups, dont put them in for it. give them their own tournament for those above 60 in the FIFA ranking or something. of course it'll be a shit tournament, but they have a chance of doing well in it.

[GM]

Actually, your point here:

 

i still think they should just get the league over in april (with no international friendly breaks) and then at the start of may,  focus on the national team for a month before the tournament. they'll be well rested and have more time together as a team/squad.

 

raises the question I've often wondered which is how we've ended up not playing through the summer months and having the season start at Easter and end round about November time.

 

I suppose our climate is changing and becoming more hospitable during the winter months so the need is less to avoid games in winter reduces?

[Cronky]

Actually, your point here:

 

i still think they should just get the league over in april (with no international friendly breaks) and then at the start of may,  focus on the national team for a month before the tournament. they'll be well rested and have more time together as a team/squad.

 

raises the question I've often wondered which is how we've ended up not playing through the summer months and having the season start at Easter and end round about November time.

 

I suppose our climate is changing and becoming more hospitable during the winter months so the need is less to avoid games in winter reduces?

 

The point about global warming is valid. The days of vast numbers of weather postponements seem to be over.

 

If a short break genuinely prevents injuries and burn out, then fine, but it could only work if the number of fixtures overall was reduced and no-one seems to be agreed on how to do that. You could cut down the number of European games, scrub the League Cup or reduce the size of the league, but for financial reasons the clubs are reluctant to consider any of that and I can't see it changing.

[Guest Sam]

The players want a break, well there's a f****** surprise.

 

The trouble with a winter break in this country is that the weather is notoriously changeable through January and February. If you shoehorn more games into February then even a handful get called off, you run the risk of a huge fixture pile up (especially if you're playing Middlesbrough, who will call games off up to three weeks beforehand in case you're coming from a far-away land like Newcastle). And there's no way they're taking Christmas football away from us in case they thought twice about that one.

 

Managers are constantly moaning about fixture pile-ups anyway, that PFA bloke's been whinging today about Steven Gerrard having to play 6 games in 18 days, so how is taking two weeks out and putting those games in elsewhere supposed to help? I believe a few European leagues would actually like to abolish it, I know Beckenbauer wants it gone from Germany. One of the reasons we keep getting so many teams to the late stages of European competition is because we play through and can keep going and maintain form, while it can take European sides a while to get themselves going again after the break. I don't remember clubs whining about fatigue when three of them were in the Champions League semi final last season.

 

It's just another excuse for the failure of the England team, a short sighted way to avoid the major issue of British coaching at grassroots level. We're probably not even going to qualify for the next tournament and that's got jack s*** to do with not having a winter break. The players should shut the f*** up and get on with it. If they're not happy with their job and their million pound minimum salary, they can go and get a bar job.

Terrific Post.

 

 

Cant believe this thread has now moved onto Global warming

[GM]

Cant believe this thread has now moved onto Global warming

 

It's a skill.

[ohmelads]

One of the reasons we keep getting so many teams to the late stages of European competition is because we play through and can keep going and maintain form, while it can take European sides a while to get themselves going again after the break. I don't remember clubs whining about fatigue when three of them were in the Champions League semi final last season.

 

I think that's more to do with the fact our league has got stronger in recent years while Serie A for example has suffered. Traditionally the lack of a winter break has left English teams struggling with injuries and fatigue in the latter stages of the Champions League and UEFA Cup. Liverpool rotate their squad all season which compensates for this, but as a result their league form suffers. I don't agree that playing right through the winter (usually about 4 games in 8 days around new year) gives you an advantage over teams who get a break, quite the opposite. If our clubs had the break, I think you would see a marked improvement in our form in Europe. When Milan put Man Utd out for example they just looked sharper all over the pitch.

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

Actually, your point here:

 

i still think they should just get the league over in april (with no international friendly breaks) and then at the start of may,  focus on the national team for a month before the tournament. they'll be well rested and have more time together as a team/squad.

 

raises the question I've often wondered which is how we've ended up not playing through the summer months and having the season start at Easter and end round about November time.

 

I suppose our climate is changing and becoming more hospitable during the winter months so the need is less to avoid games in winter reduces?

 

its probably to do with the world cup/euro's/copa america and the like. i'd rather the season was in the summer, but it'd take a lot of changes on a worldwide scale for that to happen.

[Shak]

How long would it go on for?

 

I can definitely see the case for it tbh, two or three week break in mid-late January would be a good idea imo. Have it after the FA Cup 3rd round games, or better yet at the same time as the African Nations Cup.

 

Can't have it over the Christmas period though, need my football then.