Should we have a winter break?

In the midst of another energy sapping, muscle straining festive period, calls for a winter break have once again emerged from the mouths of Premier League managers.

It is a debate that swirls around every year (as well as after every poor England performance at a major championship) and this season is no exception.



Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has led the pleas this year as he saw three of his players – Asamoah Gyan, Danny Welbeck and Nedum Onuoha – all suffer muscle strains in their home defeat to Blackpool, their second game in just over 48 hours. This result was a significant shock when it came through on the score.



With another match on New Year’s Day, Bruce believes the schedule is

outdated and putting too much strain on today’s players. Furthermore, three new injuries could significantly dent the Black Cats’ European aspirations so Sunderland fans will be following the latest scores in earnest on Saturday.



But is a winter break the answer? After all, surely the players are fitter and teams have larger squads than ever?



Plus the Christmas period is a key time for clubs as attendances traditionally

increase. Sunderland saw the biggest crowd of the season for their match against Blackpool on Tuesday. Fans are being priced out and sidelined from the game as it is, without the most popular part of the season being removed.



There is also the problem with the weather. After the freezing temperatures of recent weeks, a slew of games have been called off and re-arranged for the New Year. If a winter break had been in place, this would have resulted in even more back-log after Christmas.



My personal opinion is that a break could be an idea worth trying – but not at the expense of the festive period. For a lot of fans it is the only time they can make it to a game and for the continued health of the sport, we need to make it as accessible as possible.



But a two week break at the start of January could be tried, starting after the FA Cup third round and re-starting with the fourth round two weeks later.



Matches will have to be re-arranged and if the weather is poor either

side of the break back-logs will occur. But I see no reason why it

can’t be experimented with for a season to see how it works.