Poll: should English football have a winter break?

You've read the arguments, now you can have your say on the verdict. If you have an opinion on the possibility of a winter break in England, please vote using the poll in the sidebar on the left hand side of the site.

If you'd like to read the arguments for the first time refresh your memory, you can read Gary's case FOR a winter break here, and my argument AGAINST a winter break here.

Ding ding!

Read more

Winter break: the case for

Pity the poor menfolk of Wrexham, who've probably put up more shelves and rewired more plugs over recent weekends than they could possibly have imagined. The Dragons have probably been the hardest hit by the wintery weather - their postponed game against Stevenage last weekend made it eight in a row to be called off.

It's not just the Welsh town that's come off worse in the extended cold snap. Luton have felt the squeeze through having a number of games postponed, while Rotherham went for a month without kicking a ball in anger. Countless other clubs are counting the cost of postponed games and the headache of rearranging fixtures between now and the end of the season.

Yet Wrexham's plight highlights the problems both with the calls for a winter break and those who oppose it. If we forget the Premier League, for the time being, most of whom have undersoil heating, then it's the Wrexhams, Lutons and Rotherhams of this world who have the most to lose from bad weather postponements.

Most lower league clubs run a tight ship. The loss of one or two home fixtures increases the strain on their finances, normally precarious at the best of times. Losing Saturday games to the weather is especially galling for these teams. Even if the game can be rearranged reasonably quickly, a midweek game will simply not bring in the same gate receipts as a weekend one, unless the two teams are particularly close geographically.

In this respect, it's easy to see how a break would help teams plan their finances accordingly. A scheduled break in the middle of the season enables smaller clubs to budget for this and minimise any financial damage.

If only it were that simple. Wrexham's case may be at the extreme end of the scale, but it's unlikely a break would have helped them that much. There's simply no guaranteeing when or how long the weather will be at its worst for. Last year, the snow fell in February. Who's to say we won't get a flurry at the end of November next year. Taking a break over that length of time is patently absurd.

But the winter break shouldn't focus just around postponements. They may be an issue at the moment, but January 2010 has been an exceptional month, weather-wise, and may not be repeated in 2011. Besides, Premier League clubs mostly have undersoil heating. It's only when health and safety considerations come into play that cancellations tend to hit the top flight.

Instead of a knee-jerk reaction to bad weather, it's worth considering a winter break in terms of the benefits to a team as a whole. Managers frequently complain about the length of a season, the number of games played, and mounting injury lists, and such complaints usually come from around November onwards.

A winter break doesn't have to be long, but an extra week or so would give players time to relax and recovery from the knocks and strains picked up in the first half of the season. Think about Liverpool - how Rafa Benitez would have loved to give Torres an extra week to work his way back to full fitness.

The benefits would be felt after the season has ended. How often have we heard England managers, or Premier League players, complain of fatigue after a long season at major tournaments. A break wouldn't be the cure-all, but it would provide a small amount of help.

If Germany and other continental leagues can have a winter break, there's no reason why England can't adapt to this as well. Once a break was decided on, the powers that be would have plenty of time to ensure the fixtures fitted. If the will is there, there is a way.

But, like Chris, I'm a traditionalist at heart and would be loathed to lose Boxing Day football. I love that the New Year gets off to a great start with the Third Round of the FA Cup. These are part of the footballing calendar, but there's no reason to lose them for an enforced break.

Instead, my proposal is this: we have a break in English football of one week, probably in mid-January. This would assume that it is a standard week, with just Saturday football, so teams would play one weekend and then play again a fortnight later.

But, in addition to this, the spare week need not be completely free. Clubs who've had games called off prior to this point can rearrange for the spare Saturday, ensuring they don't lose out on matchday revenue. If TV companies are interested, this may even boost revenue. In addition, FA Cup replays can be scheduled for this week, although teams won't be allowed to bring forward fixtures from later in the season.

This way, most teams get the advantage of a week off yet the Wrexhams who've already suffered have the chance to regain much needed gate money. It's far from perfect, but then that's the whole idea of a winter break. At the very least, though, it's the nearest thing to a solution that suits teams from the Premier League to the Combined Counties.

Read more

Umbro tease new England away kit

When England host Egypt on March 3rd, they'll be decked out in...well, red. The shot above is Umbro's teaser shot for England's away kit for the next couple of years, including World Cup 2010.

The strip has been designed in rather a cool way by "acclaimed conceptual designer" Aitor Throup, and Umbro have shared a nifty vid (below) which looks at some of the unusual elements of the design process.


As a bit of a kit geek, and a massive England fan, I can't wait to see the final product and I'm looking forward to wearing it while we spank the USA on June 12th. With any luck, it won't be too long a wait...

Read more

Go fourth into the land of mediocrity

For Gerrard and Torres, read Aaron Lennon. Much as Spurs fans may be loathed to admit it, they are simply not the same team without the flying winger and Wednesday night was ample evidence of that. Harry Redknapp's team lacked creativity and width and Liverpool found it easy to push them infield and strangle their game. Jamie Carragher's legs may be going but even he could deal with balls lumped over the top to Jermain Defoe.

Yet this isn't just about Tottenham's current malaise. Liverpool were the better team against them, but that doesn't mean the Reds fightback was on. Benitez's team was efficient rather than swashbuckling, organised rather than thrusting. The team had the feel of a side set up not to lose, and while they were good value for the win, you suspect their limitations may have been surprised against the likes of Chelsea or Arsenal or, on current form, Everton and Birmingham.

And yet both sides are still very much in the hunt for the final Champions League slot. Tottenham may sit fourth going into this FA Cup weekend, but more performances like the one at Anfield and they're unlikely to be there for much longer. And Liverpool, for all their woes, are still just a point off Spurs.

Just as the top three were falling over themselves in December not to make a play for the top spot, so the pretenders to fourth are also doing their damnedest to pass the buck for fourth. As well as Tottenham and Liverpool, there's Villa and Manchester City. The former is a strong, well-organised side but one with fairly obvious limitations and perhaps two or three players short of a Champions League challenging side.

Manchester City still remain an enigma. On paper, they should be good enough to land that top four spot. On the pitch, their loss to Everton suggests those frustrating inconsistencies that bugged Mark Hughes' reign are still present. It would not be a surprise to see them drop points to surprising teams in the second half of this season.

Birmingham, Fulham and Everton are, realistically, too far behind for fourth place but it's still not inconceivable that any one of these three could end the season above Spurs.

For all the talk of the Premier League opening up, things still remain the same. What pundits now mean is that there's no one, or two, teams running away with the title this year, while fourth place is genuinely up for grabs. That isn't much of a change.

On current performances, there's nothing to suggest that Spurs, Villa or Liverpool wouldn't be dumped out of the Champions League at the group stages, assuming they manage to qualify for them. Manchester City have shown they can turn in the style over one game and may be best placed, especially if they strengthen over the summer, but they still look a little short of being able to hold their own against European giants.

So what we have here is one of the best four teams in England getting weaker and nobody stepping in to replace them, meaning you have an even narrower closed shop at the top. That isn't exactly progress in my book.

Advocating throwing money at getting into the top four isn't exactly a recipe for success either, as Newcastle and Leeds have shown, while Man City still aren't guaranteed such a finish despite the millions they've spent.

The final Champions League spot definitely matters to supporters of the clubs challenging for this position, and if, say, Villa made it into the Champions League group stages, the finances would make a huge difference. But currently the race for fourth just serves to show the discrepancy between the top three and the rest of the Premier League.

(Pic via This Is London)

Read more

Sheriff Kimbo's Thursday Thoughts #16

Forgive me for starting off with Aston Villa, but doesn't a 6-4 score line feel worthy of discussion?! (Football Weekly clearly didn't think so - ED) It was a very weird game, and one that had me on a - cliché alert - rollercoaster of emotions! I mostly want to talk about the absurdity of Sam Allardyce though. He moans a lot, that man. He is in the Benitez class of blaming the ref for his the shortcomings of his team! But as MON pointed out, we should have had two penalties at Blackburn, so when Allardyce said, "They say these things even themselves out by the end of the season, but they don't"... er, I think they just did, you clown.

On the subject of Benitez (I am not obsessed with Liverpool, honest! They are just doing my head in even more than usual lately) I had to laugh when I saw that they had already sent their e-mail regarding tickets for the 4^th round. Oh justice really did happen to that vile, arrogant bunch of scumbags.

A few weeks ago I dismissed Arsenal's chance of getting involved in the title race. Long term I may be proven right but in the short term... fair is fair, pass me the humble pie! Arsenal are a funny team. I love watching them, and I think they are an absolute example of how to run a football club. On the flip side, while I respect the way Wenger builds his team and gets them playing, his teams generally whinge and are, erm, less than sporting, shall we say. In addition their fans moan SO much! My lord, how many clubs would love to have Arsenal's problems?! But still, fair play to them and I genuinely hope they stay up there and make a real fight of it.

There has been plenty of talk about Manchester United must be regretting not keeping Carlos Tevez. I get that - I genuinely do - and there is probably some truth in it. But look at the situation - Rooney and Tevez are at their best in the same position and, as good as Tevez is, he is not Wayne Rooney. They would be better off with Tevez in the squad but they miss Ronaldo a lot more.

I hope Joe Cole keeps progressing nicely, as in theory he should be ready to go with all guns blazing come the World Cup! I felt sorry for Cole a lot during Sven's reign; the amount of times that he looked like the most likely midfielder to do something for us but got taken off when somebody like Lampard was doing nothing was pretty bad. As it is, I don't see things like that happening under Capello unless they are deserved.

People will probably say, "Yeah, if that was true why isn't Jermaine Defoe in the team?". BECAUSE HE DOES NOTHING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX! Yes I know that scoring goals is what wins matches but leading up to the goal is more complicated than just getting it in the box isn't it! To be honest I am not convinced we can win the World Cup with a conventional 4-4-2 but the beauty of the England team there is Wayne Rooney; tackling aside he could be a great central midfielder if he wanted to be!

I think that will do for another week. Before I go... looking at a final score of 6-4, don't you wish you had the Sports Almanac from Back to the Future II?! See ya!

Read more