Winter break

[Diclonius]

Yet another reason why it was a farce to reintroduce it in the first place. You never actually know WHEN Winter is going to happen in this country and playing 1000000000 midweek fixtures after the break when it's STILL WINTER is ridiculous.

[Mikey09]

If it was sensibly done it would be beneficial to clubs. However there is absolutely nowt sensible about the structure of this break.! We cram games in over the Christmas period, have a 3 week break and then play 5 games in 13 days?!!! It's counter productive. You end up with players injured through fatigue, mentally drained through playing huge games in such a short time.

Either have the break and come back into a more sensible schedule or don't have it and continue with a game a week. It's utterly baffling.

[J-C]

A good argument to have our season the same as the Scandinavian countries, March/April - November.

[LaMotta]

The weather has been ideal for Football in December and January.

Tomorrow is March, and we will be knee deep in snow.

If anything, the beast from the east confirms how stupid an idea "summer" football (March-Nov) is.

[J-C]

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The weather has been ideal for Football in December and January.

Tomorrow is March, and we will be knee deep in snow.

If anything, the beast from the east confirms how stupid an idea "summer" football (March-Nov) is.

Most of the Scandinavian countries don't start till late March, early April when the worst of the weather is gone, January/February is notorious for bad weather.

[lucky]

The winter break was introduced to give players a mid season break more than the weather conditions

[Ozyhibby]

It certainly helped us this season. No complaints from me.


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[Sir David Gray]

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A good argument to have our season the same as the Scandinavian countries, March/April - November.

Under our current season schedule of mid July-mid May, if you wanted to have a "summer" season, it would have to run from around March-January or something along those lines so I don't see the point in changing anything.

The only way around that would be to change the scheduling of the season and have more games packed into less months or have less games overall but if we were to have exactly the same length of season that we have just now then we're going to have to play during winter, regardless of when the season starts and ends.

[Alan62]

Scotland doesn't need a winter break. Run the season start of August to end of May. If games get cancelled when there actually is snow or other bad weather (anytime from November to early April) then there's plenty time to reschedule games. This year's hectic schedules either side of the break were a complete farce.

[jodjam]

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The winter break was introduced to give players a mid season break more than the weather conditions

Correct and I’m all for the break

[Famous Fiver]

I remember an Intertoto Cup Tie in July played in atrocious conditions. I am sure if it had been a local fixture it would have been called off.

Extended summer break anyone?

[Pretty Boy]

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The winter break was introduced to give players a mid season break more than the weather conditions

The problem was we crammed a whole load of games into the 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after to make room for the break. Was it 3 games in 7 days then 5 in 13 we played or something almost as ridiculous?

[heretoday]

Footballers don't deserve a break. They have a long summer break. Take them to the zoo if they want a day out. Or the cinema.

[J-C]

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The problem was we crammed a whole load of games into the 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after to make room for the break. Was it 3 games in 7 days then 5 in 13 we played or something almost as ridiculous?

Yeo and how many injuries did we pick up due to too many games in a short space.

[lamtarra]

I would rather go to Easter Rd to watch games through the summer when the weather is at its best. For me it’s not a question of games being postponed etc. but rather having to spectate when the weather is miserable, freezing or both. Whilst recognising that pleasant weather in Scotland isn’t guaranteed at any time of the year I’d rather take my chance with summer spectating and a winter close season. Also Scottish football wouldn’t be competing with the English tv offering for part of the year so that might increase revenue/prominence.

[leither17]

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I remember an Intertoto Cup Tie in July played in atrocious conditions. I am sure if it had been a local fixture it would have been called off.

Extended summer break anyone?

Was lovely warm rain though

[Nevi_SOL]

If we were going to have a summer league season ticket sales would be over the Christmas period aswell

[Haymaker]

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I would rather go to Easter Rd to watch games through the summer when the weather is at its best. For me it’s not a question of games being postponed etc. but rather having to spectate when the weather is miserable, freezing or both. Whilst recognising that pleasant weather in Scotland isn’t guaranteed at any time of the year I’d rather take my chance with summer spectating and a winter close season. Also Scottish football wouldn’t be competing with the English tv offering for part of the year so that might increase revenue/prominence.

That would be the "summer season" that starts in February and ends in December?

[lamtarra]

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That would be the "summer season" that starts in February and ends in December?

Clearly the football season doesn’t only cover the 3 months of summer. Lets assume there is a 2 month break I would rather have that some time in the winter.

[LaMotta]

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That would be the "summer season" that starts in February and ends in December?

Exactly! Our biggest crowds over the past 5 years have been in December, January and February.

Total myth that we would also suddenly get a better TV deal in the summer months.

[Haymaker]

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Clearly the football season doesn’t only cover the 3 months of summer. Lets assume there is a 2 month break I would rather have that some time in the winter.

You'd still have to play in October, November and December which would be an awful time to end the season. The pitches wouldn't recover in time (or at all) for a March start.

[jgl07]

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The winter break was introduced to give players a mid season break more than the weather conditions

No it was introduced to allow Celtic and Sevco to play friendly matches out east.

The idea that the season in Scotland could run from March to November is totally ludicrous.

At the moment it runs from early Mid-July to the end of May. So that’s June and half of July with no matches. How the hell is ten and a half months of football going to fit into eight months?

That doesn’t take account of the need to shut down for a month every second year for the World Cup and European Championship.

Totally delusional.

[lamtarra]

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Exactly! Our biggest crowds over the past 5 years have been in December, January and February.

Total myth that we would also suddenly get a better TV deal in the summer months.

A better tv deal is a secondary consideration for me in any event but if you know it’s a myth fair enough. Difficult to see how you can compare average crowds in the months you refer to with summer football months that haven’t been tried. In any event my post was personal to my viewing experience although again I recognise that gates are important. I don’t see gates being hugely down in the summer months but of course I am speculating about that.

[LaMotta]

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A better tv deal is a secondary consideration for me in any event but if you know it’s a myth fair enough. Difficult to see how you can compare average crowds in the months you refer to with summer football months that haven’t been tried. In any event my post was personal to my viewing experience although again I recognise that gates are important. I don’t see gates being hugely down in the summer months but of course I am speculating about that.

The only month that hasnt been tried in my lifetime is June! Crowds in the league cup in July last year were pathetic (yes I know its the league cup, but if summer was such a draw youd think theyd be better).

On the Tv deal, I think we'd end up with a worse deal if we moved to summer football. Look at the Irish league. Where can you see that on the telly these days?

[lamtarra]

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The only month that hasnt been tried in my lifetime is June! Crowds in the league cup in July last year were pathetic (yes I know its the league cup, but if summer was such a draw youd think theyd be better).

On the Tv deal, I think we'd end up with a worse deal if we moved to summer football. Look at the Irish league. Where can you see that on the telly these days?

Yeah the league cup games didn’t even benefit from cup top up season tickets attending this year. I reckon a big league game would get roughly the same but that’s a guess obviously.

Surely we’re in a league that’s still a bigger draw than the Irish League?

[Ryan69]

A March till November league would probably be very good for Scottish football.

I mean not many leagues to compete with for a football fix come summer!

More countries would probably buy the rights for that reason alone...

[Haymaker]

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A March till November league would probably be very good for Scottish football.

I mean not many leagues to compete with for a football fix come summer!

More countries would probably buy the rights for that reason alone...

I don't see many countries buying rights for a summer Scottish football league that would breach a gap of 6-8 weeks every other year.

I grew up in England, the closest market to sell it, the vast majority of football fans wouldn't watch it, they have other interests in the summer along with a pretty deeply held poor opinion about Scottish football that would worsen if we switched to summer.

Would the Spanish buy it? The French? The Chinese?

I'm all for improving the Scottish game but summer football is not the answer.

[HibernianJK]

The festive period wouldn’t be the same without football IMO. Fixture list needs restructuring so that the winter break isn’t necessary.

[Sir David Gray]

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A March till November league would probably be very good for Scottish football.

I mean not many leagues to compete with for a football fix come summer!

More countries would probably buy the rights for that reason alone...

At the moment the league season runs from the beginning of August to the middle of May. If the season was to start in March, it would need to end in December, unless you were to pack more games into a shorter period of time.

Under the current structure you would also have the League Cup group games starting in February.

[LaMotta]

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A March till November league would probably be very good for Scottish football.

I mean not many leagues to compete with for a football fix come summer!

More countries would probably buy the rights for that reason alone...

Who would buy the rights though!? How many people from other countries would be lapping up a Scottish football fix this summer when there is a world cup on?! Naebody!