Winter Break

[Emilio_Ivanhoe_Heskeynho]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13688538.stm

Do you think this is likely to come in at any point? Or soon?

The players and managers might all want it but for most of us fans it would be terrible. I don't know how I'm lasting the summer without football. I couldn't cope with another bleeding break. The international breaks piss me off enough.

To me this just smacks of 'professionals' being unprofessional and whiney. We've had over 100 years of football with no winter break and what's been wrong with it? I'm sure we didn't have a winter break at the end of 1965, yet 7 months later we won the World Cup. So what are they all whinging about?

England's performance against Denmark (I'm told it wasn't much good, but I refuse to watch England anymore) being blamed on 'tiredness' is ****ing pathetic. The players and Capello are really running out of excuses and it's getting embarrassing. I wish they'd just accept that they're average players who play worse than average for England because they can't handle the pressure. Walcott's a camp little turd and he's developed **** all since that Croatia match 3 years ago. And I hear Crouch doesn't want to play for England anymore, so he can **** off as well.

Are Man Utd blaming their Champions League Final defeat on tiredness as well? I wouldn't be surprised. And I'm sure Wenger's at the centre of all the complaining - another man who uses all the excuses in the World for why his team is getting worse and not better.

It's also scientifically proven to be bullshit. Athletes get fitter the more exercise they do, their bodies get stronger and they get used to it. It should also take them no longer than 48 hours to recover from physical exercise such as a 90 minute match. And what's this 'mental tiredness'? Is that code for 'I've not got the passion or the balls to play for my country because they don't pay me what my Club pays me'? Or 'I **** myself everytime I see three Lions on a shirt'? 'I hate Capello because he's not English'? 'I'd rather spend Boxing Day nursing a hangover than playing at Old Trafford'?

Modern players are such pussies and I'm fed up with them. The answer is not having a break from the best job in the world - it's getting fitter!!! If you an't beat Barcelona or Spain or bleeding Switzerland it's because you're not good enough!!!

As for games being called off etc - when's the last time a Leicester home game was called off because of snow or frost? I'm sure it's many, many years. Didn't have any of this underground heating stuff back in the 70s, but we came up with a simple idea and managed to get our games on. We are in 2011, if Clubs like blackpool can't get with the program and get their pitch in a reasonable state to play football on, then they're a ****ing embarrassment to the 2nd tier, as they were to the Premier League last season. If you can't get your pitch in the right state you should be deducted points, it's as simple as that. That's called 'failing to fulfill a fixture' - something Middlesbrough were relegated for once.

I can understand why the Premier League wouldn't want a Winter Break - it's for the same reasons as me, if different motives. The Boxing Day games for example are the best attended all season. Not only that but they are tradition. I'm sure The Premier League makes money out of those facts somehow but I want to see a full house at the Wharf whenever possible.

Thoughts.

 

[Dirkster the Fox]

Geez Emilio, any response to that is a little disrespectful, but I'll try with this:

*England plays cricket (Wonderful sport by the way)

*England traditionally avoids clashing with the cricket.

*I like cricket

*Cricket is nothing nowadays re: Money!

*Football is and always will be much bigger than cricket

*That said don't forget 2012/13 and the UEFA 130% finance rule!!!!!!

*The Prem is going to HAVE to change

*We need a winter break next season. It's going to change.

*The playing field will equal with Europe. You'll see.

*Reality...............

 

[Danger Fox]

Emilio, I know from some of your earlier posts that you are quite young, not sure how young though, but you have a maturity beyond tender years - Now get your homework done

 

[Proud Fox]

So some footballs have to play a couple of matches here and there. So what they earn enough money and to do what should be their hobby in front of big crowds in state of the art stadiums so what. And they cry because of burnout. Big babies the lot of them. The finish work every day around 1-2 and if they have a game they get the match day off and the next day off most of the time.

Its time for footballers to do what their paid for the stop whingeing and crying because they have to play a little bit of football. I would do it for half their wages and wouldnt moan once

 

[LeicesterWizard]

Alex Ferguson moaned a few seasons ago that they struggled to fit all their games in because of such a conjested fixture list, how is a winter break going to help this?

We do have winter breaks in this country already, its called "cancelled fixtures due to snow"

 

[Proud Fox]

What is Theo Walcott complaining about. He hardly plays. Neither does Crouch. They get more time off then most of us, they have got alot better jobs then most of us for more money then we could ever dream of getting.

 

[Leicester Frank]

I, for one, don't like the idea of a Winter break.
Personally speaking although I love the club (and only comparitively recently had to let my season ticket go) the season is just too long as it is. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.
England have just played a qualifier in the first week of June and most clubs report back for training in early July. Football in general, as well as the players , need a rest and with the Euro's next Summer it won't get even a small rest for another two years.
I agree with Dirkster, cricket is a fantastic sport and deserves more attention than it gets.

 

[Greatness_Since_1884]

From the FA's point of view, I can see why they want a winter break because it will benefit the England team. You have to admit that during last years World Cup, one of the many reasons England didn't perform was because they did look very tired. In fact, none of the Premier League players had good World Cups so that does tell you that, in the most physically demanding league in the world, 11 months of constant football was too much for them.

As for the talk about players getting fitter the more games they play, that is true up to a point. For instance, over a constant 9 month period with no break, a guy who's played 40 games in a season will be fitter than a guy who's played 20 games, but a guy who's played 60 games in a season will be more tired than the one who's played 40.

You are right that the body will get more used to exercise the more times you do it but, eventually, you will hit what the sports-scientists call a red-zone where it becomes too much for the body and their physical condition starts to detirirorate. It doesn't happen instantly but can build up constantly. In an age where players diets are carefully managed, the amount of nutrients they need to combat this red-zone are not realistic for them to consume the required amount because the time to recover from this is too much for a professional footballer.

A professional footballer will run around 15km in a Premier League match so that will take it's toll eventually after a long season. For people who say that Barcelona (considering it's virtually the Spanish team) have gone straight through form Euro 2008 - yes, but they've had a winter break to recover and that's the key to their consistent performances over recent times.

Wayne Rooney did have a break mid-season when he was sent to Oregan to recover and he came back re-vitalised and looked very good in the 2nd half of the season so there is further evidence that a break has benefited a player. I agree that the Christams fixtures should be maintained and the break should come after the FA Cup 3rd round fixtures in the first weekend of January.

 

[Foxello]

I would personally have no problems with having a winter break. However, I wouldn't want it during the Christmas/New year period as that is, personally, my favourite time of the season. But a break for two or three weeks after the FA Cup 3rd round would probably be beneficial to all. But I wouldn't want it introduced simply on the premise that it MIGHT help the England national team - the problems with England are far more deep-rooted than simple fatigue. It would have to be for the clubs and players.