What would we all do without football over the Christmas period?! The Premier League are thinking of introducing a winter break but fear not, it wouldn't be over the busy Christmas period.
England have been relatively rubbish at international football, not making a semi-final since 1996 and barely looking likely to in a number of years now, and many things have been blamed for their failings.
Be it the weather, a broken metatarsal, faith healers, the captaincy being stripped for questionable morales, suspension to the best player or just not being very good there's always some reason for the inevitable failure.
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Would these England players have had more success with a winter break? Probably not:
One problem is always that our players are more tired than everyone else because of the intensity of the Premier League and because we don't have a winter break like everyone else.
Now with the tv rights from 2019-2022 soon to be up for grabs the Premier League have added details about a break in the tender documents that have been sent to broadcasters, saying:
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"The Premier League has been in discussions with the FA and EFL for several months regarding the challenges of the increasingly congested English football calendar and ways in which we can work together to ease fixture congestion while also giving players a mid-season break,
"Provided space can be found in the calendar, we are open to this in principle and will continue constructive discussions with our football stakeholders to seek a workable solution."
It's obviously in the document as part of 'warning' to broadcasters hoping to bid for rights that sometime between 2019 and 2022 the Premier League will be adding a winter break, so they know what they're bidding on.
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Should it happen it's unlikely that it will be over the sacred Christmas period where clubs usually play just before Christmas, Boxing Day and a few days later, and would more likely come after the FA Cup third round weekend.
In an interview not long after becoming national team manager Gareth Southgate questioned the suggestion that a winter break would help him saying, "It's an interesting debate. The idea of a winter break will be flagged at this point but I don't ever remember this debate happening when I was playing in 96 or 98. Other people came and took the team and it seemed to become part of the agenda a lot more."
The Premier League will be forced to have a winter break in 2022 when the World Cup is in Qatar in the winter, which will also affect the seasons before and after the World Cup.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Premier League