Winter break talks to lift Sam
NEW England manager Sam Allardyce may get his wish after the Premier League’s executive chairman Richard Scudamore revealed the introduction of a winter break is inching ever closer.
Allardyce wants the chance for players to recharge their batteries during the season and Scudamore has held talks over a revamp of English football’s calendar that would include a rest period.
Any shake-up of the congested fixture list cannot be introduced until 2019 as only then will the new £5billion record TV deal be completed.
But in the wake of Allardyce, right, leading the latest calls for a change to the season’s structure, Scudamore says that discussions are ongoing.
“Sam Allardyce has been very consistent and has been calling for it for a long time, as has every England manager,” said Scudamore.
“There are more prospects for a break than I can remember.
“We are having discussions but it’s not easy due to the calendar of different competitions.
“We are open-minded and keen to make it work. We all know what we have to do to create space and something has to give. It would have
to be decided by the next TV market which is sometime at the and of 2017 and the start of 2018.”
Allardyce believes that easing burnout fears would help England compete with the world’s best nations, including the likes of Spain and Germany.
They have won the last two World Cups and both nations enjoy a post-Christmas break.
But Scudamore says the Premier League are not to blame for England’s latest major tournament failure. The Three Lions suffered an embarrassing Euros elimination at the hands of Iceland at the last 16 stage.
Scudamore, speaking at the launch of Premier League 2, a new ‘reserve’ division to replace the existing Under-21 set-up, added: “We did our own post-Euros discussion and there is nothing we saw that put us off the journey. We saw nothing in the Euros, either from other teams or from ourselves, quite frankly, that said we have to change the journey.”