G B Young
06-11-2018, 10:39 AM
Just noticed that after Friday's game we have yet another two-week lay-off for b****y internationals.
Amid the recent headlines about Neil Lennon, what was largely overlooked were his comments about this season's fixture schedule, which he quite rightly described as ridiculous.
OK, qualifying for Europe these days means you have to accept a very early start to the season and playing twice a week for as long as you keep progressing in the tournament. However, we've gone from that top-heavy start to the season to having three international breaks in the space of a couple of months as well as a near shutdown to accommodate the League Cup semi-finals. Following the next break we go into December, where we face eight games in a month at a time of year when money is tight for most! Crazy stuff and it feels like any time we've looked like generating some momentum this season it gets nipped in the bud by another break.
Would it be so difficult to have re-arranged fixtures during the League Cup semi-final weekend so that we could have played one of our December games and lessened the load next month? Better still, switch the League Cup semis back to midweek so that the weekend fixtures can continue as normal. As for the internationals, these are meaningless friendlies and Nations League games we're talking about. Clearing the weekend fixture cards for them seems way OTT. These sort of games should be played on a Wednesday night, with the squad meeting up just a day or two beforehand and returning to their clubs on the Thursday so they can be available for the weekend.
It feels as though there has been next to no fluency to this season's schedule and IMHO this cannot be helping club managers trying to establish some consistency in their sides' performances.
Amid the recent headlines about Neil Lennon, what was largely overlooked were his comments about this season's fixture schedule, which he quite rightly described as ridiculous.
OK, qualifying for Europe these days means you have to accept a very early start to the season and playing twice a week for as long as you keep progressing in the tournament. However, we've gone from that top-heavy start to the season to having three international breaks in the space of a couple of months as well as a near shutdown to accommodate the League Cup semi-finals. Following the next break we go into December, where we face eight games in a month at a time of year when money is tight for most! Crazy stuff and it feels like any time we've looked like generating some momentum this season it gets nipped in the bud by another break.
Would it be so difficult to have re-arranged fixtures during the League Cup semi-final weekend so that we could have played one of our December games and lessened the load next month? Better still, switch the League Cup semis back to midweek so that the weekend fixtures can continue as normal. As for the internationals, these are meaningless friendlies and Nations League games we're talking about. Clearing the weekend fixture cards for them seems way OTT. These sort of games should be played on a Wednesday night, with the squad meeting up just a day or two beforehand and returning to their clubs on the Thursday so they can be available for the weekend.
It feels as though there has been next to no fluency to this season's schedule and IMHO this cannot be helping club managers trying to establish some consistency in their sides' performances.