Brendan: We should switch to summer
BRENDAN RODGERS believes Scotland should switch to summer football.
His Celtic side will bid for their first trophy of the season this afternoon when they take on Aberdeen in the League Cup Final.
But, he argues, it should instead be the climax of the campaign.
“I’ve only been here a few months but it’s getting colder,” he said.
Speaking about Celtic’s indoor training facility at Lennoxtown, he said: “We’re blessed in terms of what we have here compared to other teams – if you are outside it is tough.
“It was minus-8 here this morning and you can’t coach kids in those temperatures – it’s just about keeping them warm.
“So I would say there is an argument to say a season which runs from February to November would actually work up here.
“There would be financial benefits as well as benefits for coaching in the warmer months.
“Then when you are midway through your season you would get the qualifiers. Astana had played 22 games by the time we faced them – and that’s remarkable because we had only played once.”
Rodgers testifies that’s a serious handicap for Scotland’s European entrants.
“You start behind the eight-ball, tight behind it,” he said.
“The Champions League is such a massive, massive prize and you see what it gives you – the learning possibilities, the games, the supporters.
“To then not be given the best possible chance to achieve that really puts you on the back foot.
“Look at it this season. You’ve got the Scottish Cup Final, if we are lucky enough to be in that, on May 27 and the first qualifier potentially in the first week of July. And you’ve got Scotland v England on June 10.
“It’s Catch 22. You want to be your best when you go into these games. We tried this year to give the players as much of that preparation physically and mentally as we could.
“Because if we don’t qualify and then go on to win a league or cup, what is said is that, ‘You didn’t make the Champions League.’”
Rodgers has meanwhile expressed his sympathy for his predecessor, Ronny Deila, who this week admitted to having suffered insomnia and panic attacks while in the role.
“Ronny is a good man but management is tough now with the focus, everything that’s on you, and he came into an absolutely huge club from where he was and right into it,” he said.
“He’ll be better for it, there’s no doubt about it.
“The experience of being at Celtic is going to help him over the next 20 years as a coach and a manager and he’ll go on and do very well.”