Premier League 2016/17

[Lineker]

Martin Glenn, the chief executive of the Football Association, has said there is a growing desire within English football for a mid-season break but it will be 2019-20 at the earliest before one can be introduced.

Sam Allardyce used his first day as the England manager to reiterate his belief a winter break would improve the team’s lamentable tournament record. “It would help the Premier League and us at international level if we could achieve that,” he said. “January and February is always the most difficult time to get players through.” Allardyce, however, is unlikely to see the benefit during his England tenure.

Glenn said there is no prospect of a winter break during the current Premier League broadcasting deal, which runs from this summer until 2019, but he believes there is broad agreement on the merits of a break among the FA, Premier League and Football League.

“I can’t make it happen,” Glenn said. “To make it happen you need a whole-game solution. You need an agreement. The Football Association is a competition owner, as owner of the FA Cup, and the Premier League and English Football League need to agree too. There is a consensus that it would be a good thing to do. I’ll say no more than that. We can do our bit about fixture congestion and that’s why from the quarter-finals [of the FA Cup this season] we’re not going to replays.

“If we are going to get a winter break, which the FA very much wants, it would be after the current Premier League TV-rights deal is done. There’s more consensus for that than you might think. What scared people about winter breaks in the past is the thought of it being between Boxing Day and new year but it doesn’t have to be then. It can be after the FA Cup third round in mid-January. We can’t do it on our own. We can do it collaboratively with the leagues but I think there is a growing consensus that it should happen.”

Glenn confirmed he, the FA’s technical director Dan Ashworth and the vice-chairman David Gill spoke to four other candidates for the England job – Steve Bruce and Jürgen Klinsmann were among them – but said only Allardyce was offered the position. “He fitted all the criteria we were looking for,” Glenn said. “What we didn’t want was a short-term mercenary to come in to ‘do a job’ for a couple of years.”

He added: “I’m not going to tell you who else we spoke to, that would be inappropriate because it was a confidential process. We had interviews with four other people. We spoke [about the candidates] to former England managers – Glenn Hoddle for one – other successful managers who haven’t run England teams, Harry Redknapp for example, and former players like Gary Lineker and Rio Ferdinand. We also spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson. He said Sam’s single biggest quality was he’s a winner, that he’s got an edge. Winners can sometimes be a bit awkward, that was his phrase. We only offered it to one person, Sam, because he hit all the criteria.”

[Colly]

I'd be all for a mid January break with even more games over Christmas...

[MDK]

8 minutes ago, Colly said:

I'd be all for a mid January break with even more games over Christmas...

I say we just scrap the season all together and just simulate it on FM. It would keep the players fresh for the World Cup.

[Hobo]

Apparently, Australians care very little for Spurs.

[Nerf]

What about @Plubby?

[Plubby]

The game was on the other side of the country, and i'm already saving for a trip to Brisbane in a few weeks. I couldn't go

[Gazz]

He's Western Australian, that barely counts.

On the subject of a winter break, I support the idea but I don't see how it's going to improve the fortunes of the national team, pundits can complain about tiredness all they want when lamenting another shocking England tournament performance, but this tiredness never seems to effect the non-English players who play in the this country at tournaments.

[Benji]

25 minutes ago, Nerf said:

What about @Plubby?

They care very little about him either.

I do though

Also, bollocks to a winter break. Boxing day football is a magnificent family tradition.

[Gorka]

I can't wait for Boxing Day football to end so teams can "rest" by flying to Dubai and play meaningless friendlies.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Gorka

[Colly]

Quote

What scared people about winter breaks in the past is the thought of it being between Boxing Day and new year but it doesn’t have to be then. It can be after the FA Cup third round in mid-January.

From Lineker's big quote. Losing Christmas and Boxing Day fixtures would honestly make me reconsider my season ticket, best time of the football year.

The stupidest thing remains the fact that regardless of the fact that foreign Premier League stars don't seem to suffer this fatique, the big teams in leagues that have a break spend that break on moneyspinning international tours. Which of course we'd do too. But we won't mention that...

[Lineker]

Per Mertesacker is out for five months with a knee injury. 

[Baddar]

I'd be fine with a winter break, but take the two weeks off in mid Jan/early February, don't fuck with the Xmas/NY schedule.

There's an international qualifiers date that could be moved to before the season even starts rather than a week in September. Pretty sure they take a break from league football in October too, for international games. There's undoubtedly an easier way of doing things than having to go through FIFA/UEFA, but it's doable.

[The Lusophone]

Just get rid of the League Cup, and play Premier League games on those days. Job done.

[DavidMarrio]

A winter break isn't gonna stop England from being shit and neither is scrapping the league cup. 

 

[Hobo]

The U21s is being replaced by an U23s league called Premier League 2.
 

 

[Colly]

4 hours ago, Mad Jack said:

Just get rid of the League Cup, and play Premier League games on those days. Job done.

Nah.

[Benji]

On 27/07/2016 at 10:01, Mad Jack said:

Just get rid of the League Cup, and play Premier League games on those days. Job done.

People are weirdly loving of the League Cup. I said the same once and got shot down, yet many (not all) of the same people will also say the FA Cup has lost is luster.

[Adam]

Yeah, I think scrapping the League Cup is the way forward. Do any other major countries even have an equivalent except France?

[Rich]

On 27/07/2016 at 10:16, Freelance Hobo said:

The U21s is being replaced by an U23s league called Premier League 2.
 

 

Following the F1 model I see.

5 hours ago, Adam said:

Yeah, I think scrapping the League Cup is the way forward. Do any other major countries even have an equivalent except France?

Brazil probably, they have ALL the competitions

[Hobo]

My favorite part of Premier League 2 is that it is divided into Premier League 2 - Division 1 and Premier League 2 - Division 2.