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PL Winter break from 2019?


doddisalegend

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Seems the PL is considering a winter break in the new TV Deal. Seems to me this is designed to mostly help out the big 6 with regard to European football. Personally I'd rather they didn't football is meant to be played in the winter and I find it hard to feel sorry for millionaire footballers complaining about tiredness.

 

 

http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=BDIGeneric&aid=C98EA5B0842DBB9405BBF071E1DA7651530FFE51&tid=4703E2AFDAA54398A82130800712A4EB&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.thesun.co.uk%2fsport%2ffootball%2f5509346%2fwinter-break-premier-league-considering-not-at-christmas%2f&c=7725144718046913168&mkt=en-gb

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What is the point? We all know the teams will be off to the middle/far east for games.

I guess the push not to draw in the fall Cup 3rd round will be even more highlighted.

 

Imagine spurs having to cancel their lucrative games in the far east to stay behind to play Newport again

Edited by Batman
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Since the UK weather is so unpredictable they could have a month off when conditions were really good to play football and then come back in February to snow and ice. I would only agree to the break on the condition that the players were to play no games of any kind during the period. Without the opportunity to play lucrative exhibition games around the world the break will have rather less appeal to the big clubs.

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The CL has benefited how many clubs? The Big 6 to varying degrees, Leicester once, Newcastle once? Is that about right?? Winter break is as has been said to help them. I hate the CL as all it does is widen the gap and make the playing field even more financially uneven. But as has also been said, all that the big clubs do in the break is tour the world to make even more money. Spain by contrast are shortening their winter break as they see PL making lots of money as they are the only big league playing when others are on their break.

 

Money money money. Nothing happens in football unless it allows the big clubs to make more money. They can wrap it up however they like, but we are not that stupid.

Edited by angelman
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It's not about players having a rest. It is more about Premier League clubs touring to make money in January.

 

Detrimental to the English Fans. Positive to international fans.

 

 

 

That's not how they are marketing it though the poor players are exhausted and it effects English efforts in the champions league (like fans of most clubs give a ****) it will help with fixture congestion (not sure how).

 

 

 

They can't say its because the big six want to play money making friendlies in the middle east.

 

 

 

I can see it being really unwelcome if you're a mid table side on a good run of form that is then interrupted by three weeks off.

Edited by doddisalegend
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I'd scrap FA Cup replays and ET, go straight to penalties. Who really wants to see 3.5 hours of Watford against Bristol City? I'd also give one Champs League place to the FA Cup, so that teams take it seriously.

 

I'd be for a months break, especially if it makes the summer break a month shorter. I'd much rather be going to games in June than January. It would help a lot of lower league clubs where games are called off for frozen or waterlogged pitches.

 

If the big teams want to **** off an play in Asia, USA or wherever then so be it. At least they will never be able to complain about their busy fixtures again. Does my head in listening to Jose moaning about being forced to play his £25m 'reserve' players because of injuries and fatigue.

 

How does a winter break benefit teams when they still have to play the same amount of games over the course of a season?

 

That's like saying 'how does half time benefit teams, they still have to play a 90 minute game?'

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I'd scrap FA Cup replays

 

FA Cup replays are a lifeline for lower league and non-league clubs, battling some PL team on their dodgy home pitch and getting a replay at Old Trafford can basically fund a club for years, it's a massive incentive for these clubs and part of the charm of the cup IMO.

 

PL clubs have more than enough money and players to cover FA Cup replays, once you are out of the FA Cup you get weekends off anyway.

 

4th Champions League spot going to the FA Cup winner is a good idea though.

 

I've nothing particularly against a break though, just make the summer shorter, play more into May.

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That's like saying 'how does half time benefit teams, they still have to play a 90 minute game?'

 

I see your point but if we have a two week rest over Christmas that means we have cram in something like at least 4 games elsewhere in the season which creates a higher density of games in other periods of the season which increases the chances of injury and definitely increases fatigue in that period. How much that two week break they had three months ago matters at that point I am not sure.

 

Maybe if all Christmas games were played before the winter break then I would see the benefit but I don't see how the schedule could accommodate it unless teams dropped out of the league cup.

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The CL has benefited how many clubs? The Big 6 to varying degrees, Leicester once, Newcastle once? Is that about right?? Winter break is as has been said to help them. I hate the CL as all it does is widen the gap and make the playing field even more financially uneven. But as has also been said, all that the big clubs do in the break is tour the world to make even more money. Spain by contrast are shortening their winter break as they see PL making lots of money as they are the only big league playing when others are on their break.

 

Money money money. Nothing happens in football unless it allows the big clubs to make more money. They can wrap it up however they like, but we are not that stupid.

 

So, before the fixtures come out, the PL will know who will be in Europe, so arrange for them and them only to have a winters break, and they can play all their fixtures that they would have between themselves, at the seasons end, after the CL final, whilst all the other clubs have a normal season, and a normal summer break.

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I get that the argument from the glory clubs that warm weather training with a couple of half baked friendlies is no where near the intensity of continuing the league campaign after Xmas etc

 

but lets not pretend the PL are doing this for the good of the players or anything else other than the brand of the league

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I'd scrap FA Cup replays and ET, go straight to penalties. Who really wants to see 3.5 hours of Watford against Bristol City? I'd also give one Champs League place to the FA Cup, so that teams take it seriously.

 

I'd be for a months break, especially if it makes the summer break a month shorter. I'd much rather be going to games in June than January. It would help a lot of lower league clubs where games are called off for frozen or waterlogged pitches.

 

If the big teams want to **** off an play in Asia, USA or wherever then so be it. At least they will never be able to complain about their busy fixtures again. Does my head in listening to Jose moaning about being forced to play his £25m 'reserve' players because of injuries and fatigue.

 

 

 

That's like saying 'how does half time benefit teams, they still have to play a 90 minute game?'

 

In one of the lower league cup competitions (at least form my experience playing Football Manager as a team in the conference...), teams are asked ahead of the fixture whether they want to end the tie on the day (i.e. ET & Pens). If both clubs declare they want to, there is no replay. But if one team declines, then there is a replay as per usual.

 

I think this would be a good rule as it would mean the small teams can benefit by drawing with a big team and getting a replay, but if both teams are in the same boat, wanting to avoid fixture congestion, they can.

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I think a strong white hankie protest is needed. January is a crp month as it is. journos back it as well so they can have a break. cnts
they won't have a break, they will get nice assignments following the glory clubs in the far East for 10 days.

what's not to like eh!

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You know full well that this won't be a break, it will be an oppertunity for clubs to mop up on Asian and overseas revenue from expensive 'tours'.

 

Exactly.

 

The only way it would actually be a break is if the PL had some rules about playing registered players in this supposed break. IE anyone registered in the squad window is not allowed to play. If they do they are docked points etc.

 

Of course that won't happen because the PL want to encourage teams to go abroad so they get more money from foreign TV rights.

 

Personally I think the best way to tackle this is to copy what the US have been doing. Add 1 or 2 extra fixtures to the season and have those games played abroad. They can be in January after the festive fixtures. That means 20 total PL games abroad.

It means the games are actually important to those who will end up paying stupid amounts of money to watch it and for the fans at home it will mean players who are not fit will not be risked. Imagine you sign an expensive player only for some guy called Anklebreakerouchodu of Nodong United takes him out for the rest of the season.

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I think the main problem is playing 7 games in a month over Christmas. We could keep the tradition of matches on Boxing Day etc without having to squeeze a quarter of the season into 6 weeks.

 

I assume the motivation for all the games over Christmas is because that’s when the Champions’ and Europa Leagues have their winter break.

 

My solution is to bring the League Cup forward so the final is before Christmas (they already get as far as the quarter finals before then anyway). That would mean all teams except the semi finalists would have 2 less December matches.

 

I think this would be a good idea anyway as it would mean the League Cup was over before the FA Cup 3rd Round games and it would be interesting to have a European place decided at the mid way point of the season.

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No winter break please. If the little darlings want to play less football, I'd like to see something like this.

 

Scrap the league cup (winning it doesn't make you the best knock out team in England so why bother?) Start the FA Cup earlier in the season, with more prem and championship teams in early rounds. No replays.

 

Scrap the Europa league (winning it doesn't make you the best team in Europe so why bother?). Spread the Champions League out and have the knock out stages after the domestic season. Like it's own world cup. All teams still in go to the host country and play games every 3/4 days.

 

Reduce amount of international friendlies.

 

Wildcard, I'd like to see a World, league Vs league style tournament every other summer. Prem XI Vs La liga XI, Bundesliga XI Vs Serie A XI for example. That would raise more TV money that some ****ty friendly tourno in Asia.

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In one of the lower league cup competitions (at least form my experience playing Football Manager as a team in the conference...), teams are asked ahead of the fixture whether they want to end the tie on the day (i.e. ET & Pens). If both clubs declare they want to, there is no replay. But if one team declines, then there is a replay as per usual.

 

I think this would be a good rule as it would mean the small teams can benefit by drawing with a big team and getting a replay, but if both teams are in the same boat, wanting to avoid fixture congestion, they can.

 

I like it as an idea, although how often does a small club really take a big club to a replay? I don't just mean a Notts Co vs. Swansea scenario, I mean more of a Newport vs. Spurs scenario; maybe once every season or two. Would be easier just to scrap replays IMO. For a start a smaller team would have a better chance of winning a shootout than they would a replay.

 

I see your point but if we have a two week rest over Christmas that means we have cram in something like at least 4 games elsewhere in the season which creates a higher density of games in other periods of the season which increases the chances of injury and definitely increases fatigue in that period. How much that two week break they had three months ago matters at that point I am not sure.

 

Maybe if all Christmas games were played before the winter break then I would see the benefit but I don't see how the schedule could accommodate it unless teams dropped out of the league cup.

 

The whole point IMO would be to play the games later on, in May and early June. That way the players get a rest (should the club choose it, which is up to them) and with games played in warmer weather we'd have fewer frozen pitches, fewer muscle injuries and a better fans experience.

 

Bloody stupid idea. Sit at home on January weekends staring out of the window and twiddling your thumbs. Then have games frozen off in February and March. I can't see how the TV companies could support it. If it went ahead I would cancel my subscriptions and get back to my jigsaws.

 

1. It's still the same number of games, it would just be a month less of 'twiddling' in May/June.

2. It wont eliminate frozen/waterlogged pitches but there would still be one month fewer of them. When did we last have a frozen pitch in May?

3. Why would the TV companies really care? Again, they have the same number of games to show so...

4. If watching football on TV in June upsets you that much, fine, cancel your subscription and do your jigsaws.

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I was assuming/suggesting it would be applied accross all leagues.
I think it would be daft if the football league follows suit. whilst the prem teams are away, Sky can show us a fair few football league games etc

 

Eastleigh could attract saints fans for a. couple of games.. maybe

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I think it would be daft if the football league follows suit. whilst the prem teams are away, Sky can show us a fair few football league games etc

 

Eastleigh could attract saints fans for a. couple of games.. maybe

 

I'd say there were already enough chances for Saints and other PL fans to support smaller local teams, given the number of games moved for TV. Plus there are plenty of Eastleigh home games when Saints are playing away for people to go to.

 

Plus the reasons for having a winter break apply to all leagues equally. Fatigue, injuries, pitches, better weather for fans.

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No winter break please. If the little darlings want to play less football, I'd like to see something like this.

 

Scrap the league cup (winning it doesn't make you the best knock out team in England so why bother?) Start the FA Cup earlier in the season, with more prem and championship teams in early rounds. No replays.

 

Scrap the Europa league (winning it doesn't make you the best team in Europe so why bother?). Spread the Champions League out and have the knock out stages after the domestic season. Like it's own world cup. All teams still in go to the host country and play games every 3/4 days.

 

Reduce amount of international friendlies.

 

Wildcard, I'd like to see a World, league Vs league style tournament every other summer. Prem XI Vs La liga XI, Bundesliga XI Vs Serie A XI for example. That would raise more TV money that some ****ty friendly tourno in Asia.

 

 

 

I don't want the league cup or Europa scrapped those are competitions clubs like ours can aspire to win. Take those out and we are left with even less opportunities to win a cup or get into Europe.

Edited by doddisalegend
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The whole point IMO would be to play the games later on, in May and early June. That way the players get a rest (should the club choose it, which is up to them) and with games played in warmer weather we'd have fewer frozen pitches, fewer muscle injuries and a better fans experience.

.

 

On that basis could the players not get a rest at the clubs choosing over Christmas?

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I like it as an idea, although how often does a small club really take a big club to a replay? I don't just mean a Notts Co vs. Swansea scenario, I mean more of a Newport vs. Spurs scenario; maybe once every season or two. Would be easier just to scrap replays IMO. For a start a smaller team would have a better chance of winning a shootout than they would a replay.

 

True, but for me that's the reason to keep the option open. And it's still an opportunity for the likes of Rochdale and Notts Co. Maybe even a Championship club in debt would like/need a pay day at Old Trafford. But because it is quite rare - most fixtures are between Premier League clubs and/or Championship, most of whom don't want an extra fixture, then in most cases there wouldn't be a replay. Essentially it's an arrangement which allows for the positives but doesn't bring with it any negatives. And if it is so important for Tottenham (for example) not to have to face an extra fixture against Newport, maybe they'll just have to make sure they win first time out ;-)

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I don't think there needs to be a winter break as such, just maybe fewer games over that period! Don't understand why it always has to be one extreme or the other. Saints played 7 matches between 10 December & 2 January, and 4 games in January in total. First of all, is that really that bad? It's only a couple of fixtures more than once a week! Secondly, depending on how important tradition is, why not just say "no midweek fixtures", apart from Boxing Day/New Year's Day, which are SWAPPED with the weekend fixture instead of added to them.

 

You'd end up losing 2 or 3 games from the schedule, which would mean no fixture pile up over Xmas, but equally not be too hard to reschedule elsewhere in the Calendar. But no, we have to discuss taking weeks off because Pep and Jurgen want it.

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That is exactly what's driving the change - on R5 last night they said the Qatar winter world cup would affect 3 seasons.

 

That's how I see it....it will definitely affect 20/21, 21/22 and 22/23. For 21/22 there will have to be a 3-month shutdown minimum. Nothing like changing the basis of the bid.....Qatar was supposed to have built 12 air conditioned stadia, which is now down to half a dozen open air ones - all in a city smaller than Birmingham. Most are not very big too, but I suppose if the land border remains closed as it is then no fans will want to attend anyway. Huge disruption to leagues everywhere, for what? Money.

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The CL has benefited how many clubs? The Big 6 to varying degrees, Leicester once, Newcastle once? Is that about right?? Winter break is as has been said to help them. I hate the CL as all it does is widen the gap and make the playing field even more financially uneven. But as has also been said, all that the big clubs do in the break is tour the world to make even more money. Spain by contrast are shortening their winter break as they see PL making lots of money as they are the only big league playing when others are on their break.

 

Money money money. Nothing happens in football unless it allows the big clubs to make more money. They can wrap it up however they like, but we are not that stupid.

 

I don't even watch the CL, not a single game. I guess somebody must, but unless my team's involved I couldn't give a monkey's.

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I don't even watch the CL, not a single game. I guess somebody must, but unless my team's involved I couldn't give a monkey's.

 

Me neither. I dislike nearly all the English teams in it (and several of the foreign ones too), and I hate what it represents (i.e. money, unlevel playing field, plastic fans). When it was on ITV I would occasionally watch a match if there was nothing better on, but now it's on BT there's no chance!

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On that basis could the players not get a rest at the clubs choosing over Christmas?

 

I quite like having Xmas and NY fixtures. If it was up to me, I'd have everyone play Boxing Day and NYD, then the transfer window opens at midnight on the 2nd and closes on the 31st, then everyone plays first Saturday/Sunday in February.

 

Having the Xmas period off would make sod all difference anyway.

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I guess if a winter break comes in, then there has to be a total ban on all teams playing friendlies here or abroad during that period. Similar if you like to F1 where they have a month off with no racing allowed and two week compulsory factory shutdowns.

 

The whole moaning and whinging from the usual suspects, i.e. Mourinho, Guardiola, Klopp, Wenger and Conte has become very tedious and boring. As far as I am aware, if you want to win trophies, then you should expect to play more games. Simple solution if you don’t want to play as many games - get yourselves knocked out of the cup competitions or stop moaning.

 

A league one or two side could potentially play more games than any Premier league team over a season if they had a good FA or League cup run, got to the final of the Checkatrade trophy and played 46 league games. All of this with a far smaller squad of players and in theory, far more taxing pitches to play on. How many times do we hear managers of those clubs whinging about it?

 

If you want me to be cynical, albeit totally unrealistic, stop having weekends off for meaningless International friendlies and also return the Champions League to the old European cup as a knockout format. But we all know why that won’t happen, imagine UEFA’s reaction to say, Steaua Bucharest playing Hoffenheim in their showpiece final.

 

Oh and how about stop travelling across the other side of the world playing pre season friendlies. If the poor players are too tired, then Man Utd players and their manager for example should try traveling a few miles to Oldham or Bury for pre season games instead of spending hours and hours on planes just to increase their fanbase in Asia. After all how many of those actually watch Man Utd play live? Oh sorry, they buy the shirts, scarves, mugs, etc, silly me.

 

The money in the game has become totally ridiculous with the real fans being the ones to suffer as always. Rant over!

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Scrap the international breaks, they can play midweek. Then you've got a bit of time to play with so the big sides can fly their players to the other end of the earth to whore some friendlies.

 

I long for the days when players weren't fannies like they are now.

 

International games always used to be midweek, and I think England used to play better then. This Champions League format has a lot to answer for.

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