The schedule is crazy but don’t mess with it

Aconfession — i slipped up the other day. Big time. i mentioned to Abbey, my wife, that i miss going in for training and playing at christmas time. You should have seen the look. ‘Really?!’ i’ll use this space to place on record that i love my family time, in case she is reading, and the three festive periods since retirement have been special.

But professional footballer is the best job in the world and that is no different at christmas.

There is something about going in with the lads to train on christmas Day. everybody else is hungover, feeling sorry for themselves and you’re going in really fit. Running around with no alcohol in your system, there is something wonderful about the smugness of that feeling.

one year at Tottenham, the pitches were pristinely white with fresh snow and we had such a laugh, throwing a few snowballs. There would be little games of fivea-side under Harry Redknapp, just jogging about. There wasn’t a huge amount of tactical stuff, more focused on having a bit of fun and ticking over.

And yes, there is something special about all that. everybody arrives early and then shoots off as soon as possible to see their family. Those were our christmas traditions.

speaking of traditions, there is no getting away from the fact the schedule is mad. Jurgen Klopp and others are justified in complaining about it on a playerwelfare level — of course they are — but this test sets english football apart.

obviously there is abnormality for all the players and managers who were accustomed to winter breaks. change is fantastic, and we should all embrace change, but you cannot mess with christmas. Tradition should be preserved.

Turkey is probably the worst roast dinner you could cook but we have it because that is how we have always done it. As a fan now, i feel an appreciation for watching the games over the festive period as a release. You have all the family stuff and can sneak out of the house to go and watch your team. But you are running on empty as a player. That is just a fact. You’re never 100 per cent during a season anyway — there is wear and tear, niggles — but over christmas it goes up a few levels.

The Boxing Day and December 28 turn-arounds are horrible. Physically it is impossible to remain at the top of your game and that is why you see such strange results. one day’s rest isn’t enough.

i would wake up struggling to walk after a game and thinking, ‘Hang on, i’ve got another one tomorrow’. it is mentally exhausting. There are the ice baths, the massages and you do power through, but it is so tough on the body.

One aspect of intrigue inside a dressing room was always the tactical suspensions from the middle of the month. A red card or fifth booking for anybody left the rest of the players feeling a bit suspicious. it happened to me once. i promise you it was not intentional, but you do feel a sense of guilt regardless. i’m also sure there were a few lads who made sure they totted up the yellows to book a home stay for christmas.

one of my mates, shaun Derry, told me yesterday that he had the worst christmas ever this time. shaun is doing a fantastic job as first-team coach at crystal Palace under Patrick Vieira and was all alone at home. His wife and kids went off to florida and it was just him with the dog. What did he do on christmas Day? Made himself a vegetable soup. on christmas Day!

Don’t get me wrong, i’ve had some grim ones as well. i remember being in a hotel in stoke at the Wychwood Park golf club on new Year’s eve. Terrible food and there wasn’t another soul in the hotel. i went to bed at 10 o’clock that night — and there have been a few times like that.

My advice for players? Get straight to bed, there is no point seeing in new Year. otherwise, you have the fear of missing out (the kids call it foMo). The videos, the faceTime sessions. Many a new Year i didn’t stay up and woke in the morning to about 18 missed calls.

it is a time to reflect and look ahead, wrapped up in what you’re doing and setting goals for the months to come. footballers will have set themselves 2022 targets rather than resolutions over the last few days. That is what i always did.

That is what i was thinking at the turn of 2005 when i was at southampton. The only goal was to make sure i cemented my place in the team and the months which followed were the making of me.

it felt make or break at the time. i manged to score 13 goals from that point until the end of the season and then came my move to Liverpool. Lift off.

if you had said to me on January 1, 2005 that within six months i would make my england debut and secure a transfer to the european champions, i would have asked exactly what Abs asked me the other day. Really?!

That’s the power of new Year targets.