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Winter Break

Winter Break

Poll Poll Winter Break

  • Total voters
    150
Mickypne

Mickypne

Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
10,568
Location
Preston
So the Prem are discussing a Winter Break and eventually it will filter down to the Champ and of course PNE. Would this benefit us as a club? We do have international players and we also play more games than the Prem. Would the club welcome it? Players? but ,more importantly the fans?
As a fan, i'm not sure. Would this mean i'd have to visit games in a shorter period to make up for the break therefore paying out more at one time(won't affect ST holders of course.) or will the season be extended? Let's be honest, as a fan, Christmas is one of the best parts of the season. We get to watch PNE about 4 times and TV is riddled with Footy, perfect for the fan but i assume if we have a Break this will all go.

Is it a good idea or not?

(i'd have added a Poll but forgot how to.)
 
Mickypne said:
So the Prem are discussing a Winter Break and eventually it will filter down to the Champ and of course PNE. Would this benefit us as a club? We do have international players and we also play more games than the Prem. Would the club welcome it? Players? but ,more importantly the fans?
As a fan, i'm not sure. Would this mean i'd have to visit games in a shorter period to make up for the break therefore paying out more at one time(won't affect ST holders of course.) or will the season be extended? Let's be honest, as a fan, Christmas is one of the best parts of the season. We get to watch PNE about 4 times and TV is riddled with Footy, perfect for the fan but i assume if we have a Break this will all go.

Is it a good idea or not?

(i'd have added a Poll but forgot how to.)
Click to expand...

Given the tradition we have of Christmas and New Year games in this country and the higher attendances all clubs tend to get around then I think its unlikely that we'd see a break over that period as there'd be huge opposition from clubs and fans. I could see something like a 3 week break in January happening though and would personally be OK with it. It would compress the rest of the season but I'd just bin the League Cup to accomodate it.
 
simo said:
Given the tradition we have of Christmas and New Year games in this country and the higher attendances all clubs tend to get around then I think its unlikely that we'd see a break over that period as there'd be huge opposition from clubs and fans. I could see something like a 3 week break in January happening though and would personally be OK with it. It would compress the rest of the season but I'd just bin the League Cup to accomodate it.
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Sounds reasonable Simo. Didn't think about the revenue with bigger gates at Xmas we would lose. For a club like us it probably makes a small of a difference financially. If we played Blackburn Boxing day we are looking at a 20 attendance as oppose to a 16k if we played in Ferruary.
 
Personally I think it is an awful idea.

1. If it is being used to avoid playing in bad weather, then this doesn't really apply in the UK. If we get bad weather it isn't so predictable as to fall around the Xmas period

2. Personally, I love the Xmas time fixtures, as do many supporters (but the PL don't care about supporters, do they!

3. If there is a winter break, one of four things will be needed
a. More midweek games
b. A longer season
c. Less fixtures (probably achieved by having less teams in each division)
d. League fixtures being played during international breaks
These don't strike me as being good for the fans.

On a positive note, if we did have a winter break, I could take my holiday abroad then without worrying about missing any games!
 
Not for me.

It always amuses me how it is the managers of the "bigger" clubs which moan about wanting a winter break. The same clubs who have the ability to hold squads big enough to cope throughout that period. Whilst managers at clubs like Morecambe and Stanley who haven't got a pot to piss in just get on with it. Funny how the top flight clubs are happy to take TV money yet moan when they get games moved... you can't have it both ways.

Clubs in the lower league depend on match day revenue and for many in league 1/2 and even in our league to an extent could not afford to go a period of 3/4 weeks without any match day income. Just look at the lengths Stanley have gone to try and get their game on tonight, borrowed covers, got volunteers in to help etc.

Another argument in the top flight is that our players are "knackered" come international tournaments... yet its funny this only affects English players isn't it?



Due to improvements in pitches, covers and ground work its very rare matches get called off for Frozen pitches, it is usually waterlogged.
 
Christmas is the Biggest earner for many clubs as fans have time off. Also we have to many breaks for Internationals and to many Mid-week games.
 
This is what will happen.

A winter break will mean that the top prem clubs will go abroad to copious amounts of extremely lucrative friendly matches. Thats the one and only reason they want it.

Stuff it.
 
haha made me chuckle seeing the poll

it will happen

and what will happen is chelsea man u arsenal tottenham liverpool man city wont have a break they'll fly to china dubai usa and play about 4 'friendlies' and we crack on after a 3 week break

i dont get a few things, never have

why do play offs take 3 weeks? the home and away leg is usually played within a week of the end of the season then there is a minimum of 2 weeks wait for the final
for me this is just wasted time - so elongate the season give it a bit more space for a game a week, a game less over christmas, and sat tue sat should have a week gap in between

its the inflexibility of the league or historic rigidity for me causes the massive build up of fixtures

sacred things for me are boxing day new year day easter monday - and 3pm on a sat kick off
 
Spot on with all this .Just add that the big teams in the Prem will then go on their travels playing games abroad to boost their commercial interests. The only plus would be if the Premier League have the break over Christmas and we gain a few more plastic fans for those games played during that period.
 
JK said:
Not for me.

It always amuses me how it is the managers of the "bigger" clubs which moan about wanting a winter break. The same clubs who have the ability to hold squads big enough to cope throughout that period. Whilst managers at clubs like Morecambe and Stanley who haven't got a pot to piss in just get on with it. Funny how the top flight clubs are happy to take TV money yet moan when they get games moved... you can't have it both ways.

Clubs in the lower league depend on match day revenue and for many in league 1/2 and even in our league to an extent could not afford to go a period of 3/4 weeks without any match day income. Just look at the lengths Stanley have gone to try and get their game on tonight, borrowed covers, got volunteers in to help etc.

Another argument in the top flight is that our players are "knackered" come international tournaments... yet its funny this only affects English players isn't it?



Due to improvements in pitches, covers and ground work its very rare matches get called off for Frozen pitches, it is usually waterlogged.
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With Managers moaning about it, they only moan when they are losing. Wenger and Mourihno a prime example.

Also i agree about lower League clubs. Clubs like Accy probably run week to week and can't afford postponed games never mind a 3 week break.
 
raefil said:
This is what will happen.

A winter break will mean that the top prem clubs will go abroad to copious amounts of extremely lucrative friendly matches. Thats the one and only reason they want it.

Stuff it.
Click to expand...

Not thought of that at all. That would make a huge mockery of Football if that happened but it wouldn't surprise me.
 
This will simply serve as an opportunity to reduce competitive games for the top clubs. For example by dropping the league cup or avoiding FA Cup replies or even by pulling up the drawbridge through shrinking the number of teams in the Premier League. This can only widen the gap between the elite teams and the rest, between the few and the many.

There are many good arguments cited already in the thread but I would add that winter is a miserable time for many and the thought that we wouldn’t have football games to tide us through is too terrible to contemplate.
 
raefil said:
This is what will happen.

A winter break will mean that the top prem clubs will go abroad to copious amounts of extremely lucrative friendly matches. Thats the one and only reason they want it.

Stuff it.
Click to expand...

I've been saying this for years. They now have pre season tournaments abroad when you find prem sides playing each other including the likes of West Brom and Bournemouth. They could easily stay in this country and help out local sides with decent friendlies.

And now there's been an increase in post season friendlies where a club will fly out as soon as the season finishes to play in friendlies.

California_PNE said:
why do play offs take 3 weeks? the home and away leg is usually played within a week of the end of the season then there is a minimum of 2 weeks wait for the final
for me this is just wasted time - so elongate the season give it a bit more space for a game a week, a game less over christmas, and sat tue sat should have a week gap in between
Click to expand...

I think the gap is so that tickets can be sold over a decent time period. It's also so they can usually hold all 3 over the bank holiday weekend.

simo said:
Given the tradition we have of Christmas and New Year games in this country and the higher attendances all clubs tend to get around then I think its unlikely that we'd see a break over that period as there'd be huge opposition from clubs and fans. I could see something like a 3 week break in January happening though and would personally be OK with it. It would compress the rest of the season but I'd just bin the League Cup to accomodate it.
Click to expand...

3 weeks? Why so long? Only the Bundesliga gets close to having that time off and they get far worse winters than we do. I think La Liga take a week only but play their cup matches mid week.

A winter break coming in would just be the start of reducing the number of teams in the Prem as the next thing they'd moan about is having to many mid week matches.
 
Well, there you have it. A resounding 'no' to the prospect of a winter break to help improve the dismal fortunes of the England national team.

The same people who voted No on this poll, and the thousands in England opposed to a winter break, are undoubtedly be the same people pouring derision on the England team when they prematurely crash out of every major tournament. There are many things holding the England national team back, and having a winter break wouldn't solve them all, but it would be a step in the right direction.

I'd be 100% behind this for the Premier League.
 
Last edited:
Doc Brown said:
Well, there you have it. A resounding 'no' to the prospect of a winter break to help improve the dismal fortunes of the England national team.

The same people who voted No on this poll, and the thousands in England opposed to a winter break, are undoubtedly be the same people pouring derision on the England team when they prematurely crash out of every major tournament. There are many things holding the England national team back, and having a winter break wouldn't solve them all, but it would be a step in the right direction.

I'd be 100% behind this for the Premier League.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't think a break would help. The root of the problem there is the players and their clubs. They care more about their clubs and Managers like Wenger and Fergie(in the past ) put pressure on them to eother take it easy or just pull out injured. Money is why England are shit. We would do better in the Summer if we sent an under 21 squad/fringe England players. A break won't change a club or players thinking when it comes to England imo.
 
raefil said:
This is what will happen.

A winter break will mean that the top prem clubs will go abroad to copious amounts of extremely lucrative friendly matches. Thats the one and only reason they want it.

Stuff it.
Click to expand...

That's actually a great shout. I hadn't considered this prospect, though this is probably what would happen. Perhaps having a relatively short international break (one or two weeks?) would guard against the big teams jetting off around the world during what is meant to be a rest period.
 
Personally, I voted for it before reading the comments. I didn't realise that it could cover the Christmas period, I thought it likely to be in Jan/Feb. If it includes Christmas I want to change my vote to NO,NO,NO.
 
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