Winter break on way for 2019-20 season

THE introduction of a winter break during the 2019-20 season will be presented as a fait

accompli to the FA Council tomorrow. The long-awaited changes that will be outlined by Andy Ambler, head of professional game relations, mean that the FA Cup fifth round will be played in midweek, with replays scrapped.

The fine detail has already been agreed between the FA, Premier League and Football League and FA blazers are expected to voice their strong disapproval at being kept in the dark.

The FA Board are allowed to vote through any reforms that have financial implications, which means practically everything.

However, the councillors can take solace that the announcement of the winter break — to be held at the start of February — has been delayed until the FA Council have been appraised of the plans.

RICHARD SCUDAMORE, executive chairman of the Premier League, is already without question the most powerful figure in English football. And now his authority extends to the global stage after he was appointed chairman of the World Leagues Forum, whom he is expected to represent at the FIFA Congress in June.

BRITISH tennis player Kyle Edmund (right), who reached the final of the Marrakech Open last week, is making the most of new media opportunities through his management company StarWing Sports. They bought the streaming rights to Edmund’s matches in Morocco, which were shown, with the backing of sponsors British Airways, on his Facebook page. His games were viewed online just under 100,000 times — giving Edmund valuable exposure to a fresh audience.

MANCHESTER CITY players were scattered around Europe having been granted three days off after beating Tottenham, meaning scant news has come out of the club on their title win. Surprisingly, Sky Sports have not made a fuss about it, despite being left with four weeks of matches costing £11million each and the title already decided.