Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be Henry Kelly.
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I am perturbed at the Eurovision slander in this thread. Eurovision is a glorious display of cheesy music in a happy go-lucky atmosphere. A break from the torrential bad news of reality.
The World Cup is just a big pile of shit football, extended over a few weeks, that really burns out after about 3 days.
How many NT breaks do we have during a season??? Six! September, October, November, February, March, and April!
What if these NT breaks are bunched together at the end of the season and use those slots to complete the season early?
Presently most of the European seasons run from August to May with 12 weeks (6x2) of NT breaks. We can run the seasons from August to March, the NT window during April-May then the season break during Jun-Jul.
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Great suggestion above.
Let the domestic season run, unimpeded. Good idea. Momentum, form… it all matters. I hate the current stop-start arrangement.
Then do international stuff over 2 months, qualify and competition, whatever that looks like. (personally I would make it a bit shorter than 2 months to give a longer break).
Then have a proper two month break, year in and year out.
Imagine if a team like the Netherlands had Virgil would for a month with a hamstring injury…a whole 2 year qualification cycle because their best player was unavailable for a period that would be only a couple of league games.
You also have the issue that it forces players into playing key games at the end of they year in a period where they might otherwise opt out of them.
I see what you mean about an injury having a disproportionate effect, and equally, in the example of Virg being out injured, it could affect Liverpool more if it happened during the domestic portion of the calendar year, as the Prem season would be condensed by two months. Ultimately I view injuries as a fact of life, and the timing might mean you are a little more lucky with it, or unlucky.
Still, I like the pattern that is set forth.
Domestic. International. Rest.
Also, on the international side of it, it can all be reformed within the timetable set out. You’ve got two months a year folks, have at it! Perhaps a two year qualifying period will become a thing of the past, so if you do miss out because you are injured one summer, something else will come around the next summer.
The problem is that not all leagues run August to May.
There is some sense in budging say the three in autumn together maybe for the month of November.
Then keep the March one and then summer, has to be some national football as most won’t go for it and we are looking at logical rather than fantasy which is scrap all national football.
To me it also acts as a break, I enjoyed that period last year after that awful run. However when you get the opportunity to have a two legged tie in a national break don’t then spread that over two international breaks with friendlies all around it. What’s worse than canon fodder is friendlies.
Yep, I see what you mean, but hopefully a standardized schedule can be achieved via negotiation. It needs a reset, and to the degree it is a global game, it needs a global calendar, in my opinion.
Still, no matter where the negotiated boundary lines fall, I do like the idea of three blocks of time. This is for domestic football. This is for international football. This is the time to rest.
Three blocks of time might prove to be too simplistic, but I like it!
As FIFA is apparently locked in that Corinthian era, before the advent of the professional game, when all football was amateur and the highest honour was to play for your country, why not make international football a purely amateur affair?
Each nation would be restricted to selecting amateur players, qualified by birth and or naturalisation and domiciled in that nation.
Then there would be no need for international breaks or conflicts of club versus country. International football could be played all the time with a world cup every year.
Alternatively oblige the national associations to compensate the clubs by paying a loan fee i.e. the players’ wages, insurance and depreciation in full whilst they are on international duty and any time subsequently lost through injury incurred whilst on international duty. That would soon bring them to their senses.
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I do like the format of two months or one throughout the entire season.
Always felt the September break was ludicrous they used to have a midweek fixture before the season started at one point.
Anyhow I’m not sure how really workable that is, would be all for reducing the periods outlined mind, ironically close what I suggested yesterday.
Rest of its utter bollocks but I wouldn’t be against that structure being implemented if nothing else, as I said we won’t get rid of it, that’s simply never going happen but it can be condensed into 3 periods that doesn’t bother me.
Full 10 minutes interview is at the bottom of the page. (The top of the page video is a 3 min excerpt.)
What the fuck is wrong with Wenger. Always thought he is one of the ‘good’ guys.
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Yes, though he has always had a ‘fada’ side to him.
Perhaps he knows/realises something we don’t? (Like ‘you can not have ‘it’ all’ a lot of give and take)?
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Fuck off with your foolish plans, FIFA… Just.fuck.off.
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Can we keep the World Cup 4 years and rework the international breaks?
Age???