Over A Pint / Should English Football Take A Break Over The Holidays?

Given the utter completeness of England’s disappointing performance in South Africa this year, after so much was expected, it’s little surprise that there’s been no end of opinion as to who or what was to blame. One of the more interesting theories is that the grueling schedule in England, with two domestic cups, the Champions and Europa Leagues, international duty and an extremely competitive and physically demanding Premier League table, wore down the British players before the World Cup even began.

Fabio Capello, the embattled but retained England manager, has publicly called for a winter break in the English schedule. Is there weight to Capello’s lament that his side was simply too tired to show their best? The other major European leagues all take time off over the Christmas season. Should England?

Our intrepid writers, Geoff Edwards and Eliot Rothwell have gotten together to kick off a new WFC series, Over a Pint. Every so often, a pair of our columnists will meet in a virtual pub, to pinch the barmaid and debate a polarising football issue. In the first segment, Geoff will try to convince a skeptical Eliot that a little time off would be good for English football.

Geoff: As a follower of the Bundesliga, I’ve become familiar with the winter break. In Germany it tends to run for about 4 weeks, from late December, well into January.

The Germans call their national team a ‘Tournament Team’, as the Mannschaft always seems to progress further than many expect. The main reason for this, so they say, is their preparation, which starts with this winter break. The break serves to divide the season up into 2 parts, giving players a chance to recharge both physically and mentally, and making the latter session less of a slog.

I don’t see why this couldn’t be introduced in England. The England team invariably arrives at tournaments looking unfit and jaded.

Are footy and Xmas inseparable?

Eliot: Being a teenager brought up in the English culture and, more importantly, the English football culture, I’ve experienced the magical time that is Christmas for football fans. The holiday serves as a feast of football for us, from the early anticipation when the Christmas and Boxing Day fixtures are announced in July, to the feeling upon awakening Boxing Day morning and readying yourself for the short drive to watch Bury in an away fixture at Accrington.

The experience is less about the football and more about the banter, being able to share the experiences of the past few chaotic days with your mates and fellow fans. It would be a shame for such a vital social ingredient in the English footballing recipe to be taken off the menu by the big-wig bureaucrats at the FA.

Fergie says, "Bah, Humbug!"

Geoff: I was brought up in the English culture, too (although, unfortunately I’m no longer a teenager) and love the Christmas fixtures as much as the next fan. I’d hate to see the end of them in the English football calendar.  On the other hand, I’d like to see the Three Lions challenge for another World Cup in my lifetime.

That’s why I would propose the last fixture before the break actually be the FA Cup 3rd round at the beginning of January. The action would then kick off again with the the FA Cup 4th round on the last weekend of January.

In this way, we could keep the Christmas calendar intact and still give the players a few weeks to recover from what is a very busy period; the “worst period of the year” according to Sir Alex Ferguson, as poor weather conditions and pitches take their toll on players’ fitness, leading to the inevitable burnout at the business end of the season.

Eliot: The problem I see with that, is the fact it would mean a prolonged break over the January transfer window, when managers may want to see the current form and fitness of prospective new signings in a competitive match-day environment.

On the subject of national team stars being “tired” when it comes to major tournaments, surely a more sensible and less controversial move would be to rid ourselves of the Carling Cup. We already have the FA Cup and the league season, so the extra cup competition is just seen as a distraction to the top clubs.  Hence Arsenal and Manchester United fielding weakened/youth teams.

One less competition would limit traveling and the amount of competitive games played far better than a winter break.

Or this?

Wouldn't you trade this?

Geoff: I think, in this day and age, clubs have players well scouted before the January window. They should already know a player’s capabilities when they move in to sign them. A winter break would give clubs more time to take care of the administrative side of signing players and give the players themselves time to bed in before making their debuts.

I do agree with your point on the League Cup, though. If anything was possible, I would also advocate abolishing it. However, I don’t see it as a viable option. The Football League would never agree to dropping its most prestigious competition, especially as its flagship league is England’s second tier, the Championship.

Maybe a reform of the League Cup could be workable then? A whole host of things could be changed, such as abolishing two-legged ties, or getting the majority of League Cup matchdays in before Christmas.

To relive this?

Eliot: Maybe a winter break is not the issue here. Maybe it’s the whole concept of the extremely long English season. Training for the league season starts at the beginning of July, while Spanish and Italian leagues start much later, giving the players extra time to recover from the previous season before they have to push their bodies to the limit again.

Another remedy to this is to reduce the number of teams in the Premier League to 18. This would lessen the season by four games, giving four extra weeks to national team managers for working with players and four added weeks for the players to regain fitness.

Geoff: I agree in principal but, again, I can’t ever see any of the clubs, or the Premier League, agreeing to reduce the league down to 18 teams, as they would miss the revenue that comes with those 4 lost games. Also, the domestic leagues of the previous two world champions (Italy and Spain) are contested by 20 teams.

With that in mind, I’ll reiterate my belief that the winter break is the best alternative available to help England’s players recharge their batteries both mentally and physically, to help get them in better shape to contest major tournaments.

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At least, no one blamed the WAGs this time!

Now that you’ve heard what Geoff and Eliot think, whose side are you on?  Do you believe they’ve covered all the relevant points?  Give us your opinion.  Vote on whether English football should take a holiday break, wait a few weeks, eliminate or lighten part of the domestic cup schedule or leave well enough alone.  Voice your opinion in the comment section below.

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