http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43215246 Seems like there will be one coming our way soon although the suggested date is February now so its more of a late winter early spring break. Are you in favor of a break?
Extend the season by a week if they need to play less games over Christmas. Absolute fannies, especially the likes of Guardiola piping up about it despite having a huge squad and buying up half the world's young talent. If they play too many games because of playing European football as well then create a European league and do everybody a favour and **** off - it's an unfair financial advantage over teams not in those competitions anyway.
One - you can never guarantee when or if the weather is going to be crap in the UK - take two weeks off, then the weather is **** and games postponed and clubs moan because of a fixture backlog Two - clubs will potentially see it as an opportunity to head off and play friendlies/exhibition games overseas to improve their "brand" Three - PL only generally plays once a week, barring games moved due to international breaks (ironically), cup postponements, or Europe - but isn't that the point of having a squad? Four - idea is to rest players ahead of things like World Cup/European Championships etc - if you take a break in Jan/Feb but still need to fit in the same number of fixtures, surely players then play more regularly which pretty much defeats the object of the break
Think its unnecessary. We get several mini-breaks anyway - other clubs refer to them as the 4th, 5th and 6th rounds.
In favour as I believe it will benefit the national team. I am patriotic and desperately want England to do well. Many don't care about the national team though, and if it wasn't for that I wouldn't really care either way. The one concern I have about it is the clubs in this country. Would they take a genuine break or just use it play a load of money fixtures, thus defeating the object. I'm only in favour if there are rules guarding against this. The PL is money obsessed and could easily render it pointless unless governed properly.
Fair point it may benefit the national team but as others have said there will still be the same amount of games and they will have to be played across two less weeks than previously which would likely have the opposite effect. Also while I love watching England I have no inclination it will make us any better what-so-ever or perform better at tournaments. We are, to be nice about it, shockingly bad at international level and I still think we punch above our weight to be in the top 10/15 teams in the world and that has been because its been mismanaged from the top down and we are only just starting to do something about it with the youth teams in the last few years. Think we will see a more competitive England team in the next 3/4 Euros/World Cups but not benefited by the break but the coaching put in at youth development stage.
Look back to the 70s/80s/early 90s - used to play a 22 team league with 42 games, this was reduced to 20 teams and a 38 game season in order to improve England's chances at major tournaments because we played too many games. Did that do anything to improve England results, did it ****e....
Its a load of bollocks, as many on here have already said. Any break in footie schedules is jumped upon by each and every club and players are taken away for "training breaks". Anything mid-season will be treat the same way. Players still have to train for the next game so it's not like they're gonna be away from it completely. Finish the season a week or two earlier if that's the ultimate goal, or maybe flip things around and give the bottom 6 (outside of the relegation zone) the europa/champions league places, thus reducing the game count for the top 6 teams most of whom contain the vast majority of the England team. Imagine Real Madrid rocking up for a game against ****ing Stoke (no disrepect Stoke fans)? Maybe if the fixture list wasn't dicked around so much by those slags at sky we'd stand a better chance but that ain't gonna happen either is it kids?
I think its archaic to think that way about a break and physical performance personally. Yes there will be the same number of games but having a freshener mid season would have a massive effect mentally and physically. I personally think it is very easy to think, same number of games, what does it achieve. You only need to look at how we start the season and how players perform physically. Or look at how England play in September/October time. The only bit of me against is the traditions of English football. There is something special about Xmas games and the fact we're the only mad bastards still playing. The rest of Europe watches on. We haven't had the players good enough to compete at times. I think we clearly have some talent coming through looking at the youth tournaments. I would like to see us make the most of them. I don't think a winter break alone is enough though. Our problems run much deeper and it comes down to motivation once they've had millions chucked at them, nibbling away at their desire. When I say it will help to have a winter break, I definitely think it would physically and mentally. Our league is draining physically and mentally. There is no let up. Purely from a physical conditioning perspective it would be beneficial. You don't have to understand loads about physical performance to know that having time to prep your body for competition is an unbelievable tool. However that is all it will do, help. It won't guarantee anything as there are so many other factors in play. I'm just for doing everything possible to assist.
I would dump the international friendlies that we get, most times the team selection never reflects the real choice that will be made when actual competition comes around.
I have wondered if the national team holding training sessions for 3 or 4 days between Premier League games would be as effective. You lose something not playing a game I guess but like you say if the players are not your regulars then it's probably worth the trade off for the reduction in games and easing the number of fixtures.
I don’t think UEFA/FIFA would allow us to do it, I think it’s part of your membership. I agree clubs have rendered them pointless with all these mysterious well timed injuries. If we could drop them and just have intensive camp it would be far better. Difficult to get round this and it has helped devalue an international cap.
I think it's an utter farce to be honest, FIFA/UEFA would be better off re-structuring so that they had training camps with the players that really would be in the squads rather than what becomes more and more a random selection of players who we all know are not going to be playing in either tournament qualifiers or the tournaments themselves.
**** me sideways. All the issues of the greed and money in football, and what solution is proposed/granted? A ****ing break so the rich teams can get a nice rest. Boils my fecking piss. What about sorting out the completely ****ed loan system? What about salary, transfer or foreign caps? What about stopping anyone being sacked, removing the January window altogether, levelling the payments? What about spreading the PL payouts like the NFL, so the bottom club gets the biggest share of wealth - not like ****ing City need another £10m for buying, sorry, winning the league. These crusty old ****ers being bent over by Middle Eastern princes is pathetic.
I think you make some good points, particularly the loan system and salary caps. Not sure what it has to do with the subject at hand, but good points nevertheless.
