nonsensical fixture list

[worcesterhibby]

I know it has been touched on in a few other threads, but HOW IN GOD'S NAME did we end up with the SPFL deciding that it would be a good idea to have a 3 week break, followed by 5 games in 14 days followed by a two week break, straight after Christmas ?!

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, it is beyond a joke. However the biggest issue is bound to be player fatigue and injuries and that is exactly how it has panned out for Hibs, leaving us to have to field a makeshift team against Rangers on Saturday and Brandon Barker hobbling off in the first 10 minutes. It is such bad planning that it is simply nonsensical.

It's not exactly fair on supporters either, who are expected to shell out five times in 14 days if they want to support their team.

Just taking one of those matches out of the 14 day period and moving it to next Saturday, would have made a huge difference and would also have meant that we now wouldn't have to wait 2 weeks for our next fixture. Why is there a break next week ? There is no International match till March 23rd ?? Am I missing something or are those in charge of our league idiots ?

[Monts]

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I know it has been touched on in a few other threads, but HOW IN GOD'S NAME did we end up with the SPFL deciding that it would be a good idea to have a 3 week break, followed by 5 games in 14 days followed by a two week break, straight after Christmas ?!

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, it is beyond a joke. However the biggest issue is bound to be player fatigue and injuries and that is exactly how it has panned out for Hibs, leaving us to have to field a makeshift team against Rangers on Saturday and Brandon Barker hobbling off in the first 10 minutes. It is such bad planning that it is simply nonsensical.

It's not exactly fair on supporters either, who are expected to shell out five times in 14 days if they want to support their team.

Just taking one of those matches out of the 14 day period and moving it to next Saturday, would have made a huge difference and would also have meant that we now wouldn't have to wait 2 weeks for our next fixture. Why is there a break next week ? There is no International match till March 23rd ?? Am I missing something or are those in charge of our league idiots ?

Scottish cup weekend

[--------]

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I know it has been touched on in a few other threads, but HOW IN GOD'S NAME did we end up with the SPFL deciding that it would be a good idea to have a 3 week break, followed by 5 games in 14 days followed by a two week break, straight after Christmas ?!

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, it is beyond a joke. However the biggest issue is bound to be player fatigue and injuries and that is exactly how it has panned out for Hibs, leaving us to have to field a makeshift team against Rangers on Saturday and Brandon Barker hobbling off in the first 10 minutes. It is such bad planning that it is simply nonsensical.

It's not exactly fair on supporters either, who are expected to shell out five times in 14 days if they want to support their team.

Just taking one of those matches out of the 14 day period and moving it to next Saturday, would have made a huge difference and would also have meant that we now wouldn't have to wait 2 weeks for our next fixture. Why is there a break next week ? There is no International match till March 23rd ?? Am I missing something or are those in charge of our league idiots ?

You're not missing something.

[lord bunberry]

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I know it has been touched on in a few other threads, but HOW IN GOD'S NAME did we end up with the SPFL deciding that it would be a good idea to have a 3 week break, followed by 5 games in 14 days followed by a two week break, straight after Christmas ?!

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, it is beyond a joke. However the biggest issue is bound to be player fatigue and injuries and that is exactly how it has panned out for Hibs, leaving us to have to field a makeshift team against Rangers on Saturday and Brandon Barker hobbling off in the first 10 minutes. It is such bad planning that it is simply nonsensical.

It's not exactly fair on supporters either, who are expected to shell out five times in 14 days if they want to support their team.

Just taking one of those matches out of the 14 day period and moving it to next Saturday, would have made a huge difference and would also have meant that we now wouldn't have to wait 2 weeks for our next fixture. Why is there a break next week ? There is no International match till March 23rd ?? Am I missing something or are those in charge of our league idiots ?

There isn’t a break, it’s Scottish Cup weekend.

[worcesterhibby]

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Scottish cup weekend

DOH ! thanks

[NAE NOOKIE]

As others have pointed out, its Scottish cup weekend. If there's any solace to be had from getting knocked out its that we will now get a week off from this ridiculous fixture schedule ..... imagine if we had taken the Yams to a replay that would have been 6 games in two weeks, with 4 of them against the toughest opponents possible for us, 3 away from home.

Hopefully the break will allow us to get at least Hanlon and McGregor back ... though I have to say I wont complain if Ryan Porteous has to fill in again, the guy looks like a star waiting to happen.

[Sir David Gray]

We have another two week break coming up at the beginning of next month!

[worcesterhibby]

While I am happy to admit that I'm the stupid one (not for the first time) in missing the fact that it's Scottish Cup weekend. it still begs the question..why the hell do we have a winter break if it means we have to play 5 games in two weeks ?

Even if the winter break was shortened to two weeks it would at least mean playing 5 games in three weeks and would avoid the need to go off to Portugal and set off fire alarms !

[james62]

Although the break this weekend is due to us being out of the cup the scheduling of 2 consecutive midweek rounds of fixtures in January is utterly ridiculous, especially considering that only 3 of the 6 games scheduled for last week took place due to scottish cup replays. There are 15 more midweeks between now and the end of the season with only 2 scheduled for a round of league fixtures, so surely one or both of the January ones could have been moved to a time later in the season.

[Billy Whizz]

Wonder if we’ll move the Hamilton game on Wednesday 28th?

[Borderhibbie76]

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I know it has been touched on in a few other threads, but HOW IN GOD'S NAME did we end up with the SPFL deciding that it would be a good idea to have a 3 week break, followed by 5 games in 14 days followed by a two week break, straight after Christmas ?!

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, it is beyond a joke. However the biggest issue is bound to be player fatigue and injuries and that is exactly how it has panned out for Hibs, leaving us to have to field a makeshift team against Rangers on Saturday and Brandon Barker hobbling off in the first 10 minutes. It is such bad planning that it is simply nonsensical.

It's not exactly fair on supporters either, who are expected to shell out five times in 14 days if they want to support their team.

Just taking one of those matches out of the 14 day period and moving it to next Saturday, would have made a huge difference and would also have meant that we now wouldn't have to wait 2 weeks for our next fixture. Why is there a break next week ? There is no International match till March 23rd ?? Am I missing something or are those in charge of our league idiots ?

You do realise that we only have a break coz we r out the cup?? The rest of your post makes sense tho

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[Borderhibbie76]

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Wonder if we’ll move the Hamilton game on Wednesday 28th?

Not being moved

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[hibbysam]

The most nonsensical thing about the whole episode is the following:

In August we played 4 league games (one per weekend) in arguably the best weather.
In September we played 4 league games (again one per weekend).
In October we played 4 league games (two midweek games, one due to the league cup semi being played)

So in August we had three spare midweeks, and September we had 2 spare midweeks.

We then cram 6 games into 19 days in December, take 3 weeks off and come back to play 5 in 13. The weather isn’t any better now, the parks aren’t any better, and the schedule means recovery is non-existent.

I’m not against having a break but at least make it worthwhile.

[Hibbyradge]

5 games in 13 days, actually.

[Alan62]

The winter break was stupid. No doubt about that. The poor use of the summer months is equally daft.

[neil7908]

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While I am happy to admit that I'm the stupid one (not for the first time) in missing the fact that it's Scottish Cup weekend. it still begs the question..why the hell do we have a winter break if it means we have to play 5 games in two weeks ?

Even if the winter break was shortened to two weeks it would at least mean playing 5 games in three weeks and would avoid the need to go off to Portugal and set off fire alarms !

Not at all stupid, we're a victims of our own success, we've done so well in the cup over the last few years it feels weird not having it on our fixture list this time of year!

[neil7908]

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The winter break was stupid. No doubt about that. The poor use of the summer months is equally daft.

Yup, I like the idea of a winter break but only if it means more football in the warmer months, not cramming a silly number of games in directly before and after the break!

[brog]

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The most nonsensical thing about the whole episode is the following:

In August we played 4 league games (one per weekend) in arguably the best weather.
In September we played 4 league games (again one per weekend).
In October we played 4 league games (two midweek games, one due to the league cup semi being played)

So in August we had three spare midweeks, and September we had 2 spare midweeks.

We then cram 6 games into 19 days in December, take 3 weeks off and come back to play 5 in 13. The weather isn’t any better now, the parks aren’t any better, and the schedule means recovery is non-existent.

I’m not against having a break but at least make it worthwhile.

I agree 100%. It's not so much the concept of a winter break, though how you define winter in Scotland is beyond me, but more the scheduling around it. As you say, we play midweek games in December & Jan & ignore much more favourable dates. We also don't take full advantage of holiday periods, e.g. New Year, Easter & local holidays. New Year was always the highlight of the Scottish football calendar. Now we ignore it & England embrace it, crazy!

[Monts]

To be fair to those making the schedule, they can't put midweek fixtures on in the same week as European games. And they will be reluctant to put them in between European weeks so as not to have the top teams playing every weekend and midweek.

[theonlywayisup]

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The most nonsensical thing about the whole episode is the following:

In August we played 4 league games (one per weekend) in arguably the best weather.
In September we played 4 league games (again one per weekend).
In October we played 4 league games (two midweek games, one due to the league cup semi being played)

So in August we had three spare midweeks, and September we had 2 spare midweeks.

We then cram 6 games into 19 days in December, take 3 weeks off and come back to play 5 in 13. The weather isn’t any better now, the parks aren’t any better, and the schedule means recovery is non-existent.

I’m not against having a break but at least make it worthwhile.

4 games in 10 days in January, 7 games in December.

Yet only 5 games in August, September and October.

I long for evening games during the warm months, not in December and January.

[ian cruise]

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While I am happy to admit that I'm the stupid one (not for the first time) in missing the fact that it's Scottish Cup weekend. it still begs the question..why the hell do we have a winter break if it means we have to play 5 games in two weeks ?

Even if the winter break was shortened to two weeks it would at least mean playing 5 games in three weeks and would avoid the need to go off to Portugal and set off fire alarms !

Without the winter break Stokes-Gate wouldn't have happened and as sad as it was to see a legend go, we so far look the better for it. Silver linings and all that....

[HibeeHibernian4]

The winter break is one of the worst SPFL inventions to date, particularly as half the clubs just jet off to a training camp (be it Spain, Portugal or Dubai if you're loaded like Celtic).

In January, the two rounds of midweek fixtures (on the 23rd/24th and 30th/31st) were particularly stupid, as the latter date coincided with the midweek for Scottish Cup replays. On top of this, we had weather problems, which delayed St Johnstone's tie and made them miss both of their midweek league games, similarly Rangers had one of their league fixtures rescheduled after the Fraserburgh tie was postponed.

In summary, there was:
No (traditional) round of league games on New Year's Day or 2nd January
No league games on Sat 6th January
No league games on Sat 13th January
Cup games on Sat 20th January
League games on Wed 24th January
League games on Sat 27th January
League AND Cup replay games on Wed 31st January
League games on Sat 3rd February

By taking out the league games on the 24th and 31st and placing them on the 6th and 13th instead, you could've had a much more balanced schedule which would've been less likely to cause a pile up. And even if games were postponed due to bad weather, there would be plenty of free midweeks in which to play them.

[ancient hibee]

And now St J are having to play a league match a few days before the Hearts cup tie.

[james62]

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To be fair to those making the schedule, they can't put midweek fixtures on in the same week as European games. And they will be reluctant to put them in between European weeks so as not to have the top teams playing every weekend and midweek.

Why not though? Only Celtic are involved in European competitions after August so they could schedule all their midweek games in December and January and everyone else's in the summer months.

[beensaidbefore]

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The winter break was stupid. No doubt about that. The poor use of the summer months is equally daft.

Added to that fans are expected to fork out just after Xmas, the weather is freezing and the playing surfaces are not as good as they could be in spring or summer. Does nothing to enhance the appeal of our game when the standards undoubtedly will be affected by crap pitches.

[Monts]

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Why not though? Only Celtic are involved in European competitions after August so they could schedule all their midweek games in December and January and everyone else's in the summer months.

There would be no TV money for those rounds of fixtures on European midweeks. And there's no guarantee it's only celtic in Europe. Potentially 4 teams could be. Unlikely, but possible.

I'm not saying that they have got it right. I don't think they have. I'm just saying it's not as straight forward as it might seem.

[worcesterhibby]

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You do realise that we only have a break coz we r out the cup?? The rest of your post makes sense tho

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You do realise that has already been pointed out several times and that I have posted calling myself an idiot already. Keep up !

[hibbysam]

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There would be no TV money for those rounds of fixtures on European midweeks. And there's no guarantee it's only celtic in Europe. Potentially 4 teams could be. Unlikely, but possible.

I'm not saying that they have got it right. I don't think they have. I'm just saying it's not as straight forward as it might seem.

Why wouldn’t there be tv money?

[worcesterhibby]

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Why wouldn’t there be tv money?

UEFA rules ban the the televising of member leagues domestic games that are played on the same night as Champions league/Europa League fixtures.

[John Plunkett]

Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere however 2 home league games at 3pm on a Saturday from 1st Jan to 7th April doesn’t seem quite right.