Of our 28 league games so far this season we have had 3 midweek league games- Colchester away back in August, MK Dons away in September and Wycombe away in October. I won't count the Huddersfield game as that was originally scheduled for the Saturday.
After today's postponement, in February and March alone we will have 5 Tuesday games. The postponements we've seen are a financial burden on both the clubs (police/stewarding costs etc) and the fans (no refunds on train tickets, unable to make rescheduled games).
Would it not be sensible to have some time off during winter, not to give the players a rest, but to avoid this fixture pile up and inconvenience for all concerned? There were plenty of Tuesdays earlier in autumn we could've used for the games played over the winter period, and we would not end up with a scenario where teams who are not having their games postponed are at an advantage as they won't have this fixture congestion.
Of course there is the argument that people wouldn't want to lose the traditional Christmas games. And it would be hard to decide exactly when a winter break should be. But is it something that should be considered?
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You can't shut down for three months, personally can see FIFA changing Europes season and becoming a summer sport ala rugby league, would also mean more likely to have word cups in other global locations (like the farce in the middle east coming up)
No no no no.
How many of our games have been postponed because of snow/frozen pitches in the past 10 years? And when were they in the year?
If anyone would care to work that out then you'll see that there is just no case for a winter break in this country.
It's not a perfect solution, as the later the cold snap is the shorter notice you'd have for rearrangements, but that's true now anyway.
I'm pretty sure most ppl would pay an extra couple of quid on long journeys when booked in advance to these types of things, paying a £5 extra on your ticket and then able to get a reissued ticket/credit note for future travel.
The villain of the piece IMO is the original fixture list, with midweek matches already thickly scheduled for March and April. Squeezing in re-arranged games in the few spaces means many teams are playing twice a week almost every week for the remainder of the season - the infamous fixture pile up.
Either more midweek fixtures should be scheduled to be played during the front half of the season or the FL divisions reduced to 22 clubs.....perhaps allowing for the Conference League or whatever it's called, to officially become League Three (which in effect it is already).
And make the useless Johnsons Paint Trophy a competition only for those knocked out of the League Cup.
1 - Winter breaks don't work in this country cause the bad weather can hit from November to March, so when is the break
2 - Better investment in pitch covers/undersoil heating
3 - Allow clubs the option, or at least review the ban on artificial surfaces.
A winter break to avoid harsh weather wouldn't work for the reasons given above ie which two or four week period do you choose.
Having leagues of 23 teams doesn't help but there is little that can be done about that without kicking some times out or creating a 5th league.
What I cannot understand is why they don't play more games in the first part of the year.
Getting rid of the Johnstone's Tinpot Trophy and playing league games in those midweeks would be my first move.
No replays in the first couple of FA Cup rounds would free up more midweeks for league action. That's got to be worth a look, too.
Take a look at european countys having abreak from Christmas through to mid January when the freeze sets in.does not help much when during that time you can play games because the weather is mild but during the first two weeks in Febuary it is -20c and games still not played.
End of the day we are what makes English football GREAT a season which runs from AUG TO MAY and people in europe just want to watch english football be it in person or on the tv.
The way round this in my opinion, is to have no winter break and for all the leagues to play more midweek games in the first 3-4 months of the season and finish in April. This would then give players plenty of time to rest ahead of international tournaments in the summer.
No, IMHO we don't need a winter break, unlike central and Eastern Europe and of course Scandinavia.
As for pitch covers, didn't so Ipswich much good today when really cold!