Sunderland’s Gus Poyet wants season to start earlier to allow winter break
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Version 0 of 1. In a perfect world Gus Poyet would like to see the domestic football season mirroring school terms with breaks every holiday permitting players and managers to fly abroad with their families. The Sunderland manager, whose team face Hull at home on Boxing Day, appreciates his vision of “our season running parallel to the school year” will always remain a fantasy but he is adamant of the need to reduce fixtures in December before the introduction of a winter break in January. “I don’t like playing eight games in December” he said. “I think it’s wrong. The players are fresh at the beginning of the season, not in the middle. I would not have a problem playing Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday for the whole of August. It’s warm, the pitches are at the best. I don’t see a problem in coming back for pre-season earlier and playing six league games in August and six league games in September.” Poyet believes English football takes too long a summer holiday, thereby missing chances to play in more appealing conditions during early August and late May. “Some people are going to hate me for this,” he said. “But I believe we only need a month off in the summer. Two months is too long, it’s too much. You’d have to change it a bit when there’s a major tournament but other countries manage it. I don’t think it’s a big matter if we start the season two weeks earlier and finish it two weeks later if it means we can have a two-week break in January in the middle. “To ask footballers to play this many games in December is unreasonable. It’s quite crazy. We could start the season earlier, finish it later and keep the tradition of playing on Boxing Day or even New Year’s Day but then we stop. The England team would be much, much better in July and August. Other nations fit winter breaks around World Cups. It’s only England that doesn’t.” Instead the mid-winter glut of games remains a source of consternation. “We batter players in December,” Poyet said. “We played 10 or 11 games until the end of November and eight in a month when the weather’s cold and wet all the time. How do you keep them in the best possible physical shape? How do you prevent them from getting injured?” Then there’s the mental exhaustion involved. “It’s not just physical, it’s mental as well,” he said. “And players can’t rest over Christmas. They have family in the house. There’s always lots going on. You want to sleep during the day, no chance.” |