It began last night, and lasts for roughly three weeks. It is the period of the year when I cast envious glances at Premier League supporters up and down the country – come the weekend, I will even be jealous of Blackburn fans (now I’ve got your attention haven’t I!) It is – wait for it – the beginning of the Winter Break.
The closest I am going to get over the festive period to watching my beloved Los Blancos is the re run of the last El Clasico kindly provided by sky any time. Now for anyone who watched the game – this isn’t really something I fancy doing alongside eating more selection boxes and mince pies than should be allowed.
Of course, from a reasonable person’s point of view, the winter break may seem like a good idea, and players and managers in recent years have shown a willingness to introduce it into the English game – it gives players a much needed break and the chance to spend Christmas with their families at home – or in the modern footballer’s case, the Bahamas – and then allows them to push on through the last half of the season, especially for top clubs playing a huge amount of games.
The idea is that it will help prevent injury and allow the English clubs to reach the latter stages of all competitions without players suffering from fatigue and still be in a position to compete with their European counterparts who are privileged enough to have a winter break.
This however is slightly flawed logic –Fulham reached the Europa League final and played a 60 game season, and at least one English club has been present in the Champions League last stages for the last few years. In fact, United had reached three out of the last four finals before becoming Jim Ronsenthal and Channel 5’s most valuable asset this year.
Even more than that, the 2008 final was an all English affair between United and Chelsea, and in the years where United failed to win the competition it was very little to do with the fact they did not have a winter break like conquerors Barcelona, and more to do with the fact they were embarrassingly outclassed.
Perhaps then the reason for the winter break is to help teams in the Summer’s international tournaments, with the break allowing fixtures to be more spaced out and although the season may have a later finish time, the idea is players are more relaxed and rested come either the Euro’s or World Cup.
Well sorry to burst that bubble, maybe I have been a supporter of England for too long and have become cynical, but we could have a year’s winter break and still not win an international tournament. Likewise I am fairly sure the ever efficient Germans could qualify for the latter stages without one and the scintillating Spaniards would still be in the final despite a break coming into the equation.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand why players and managers push for a winter break, and if you would have asked me this a month ago before the harsh reality of watching England’s value brand equivalent to the Special One in AVB had set in, I may been slightly more in favour of three weeks off over Christmas and New Year. Another three weeks without La Liga however, and I will even be missing Barcelona – it is then I know things have gotten really bad, and I become about as bigger fan of the winter break as I am of low fat mayonnaise – it’s just not mayonnaise!
Written by rebeca Knight for FootballFanCast.com
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