Quote Originally Posted by Alex Trager View Post
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See, whilst the evidence absolutely bears this out (Hearts X2 and Sheep X 1 - though would argue some nuances in a couple of instances) how come the English lower leagues go twice a week all season no worries?

Hearts had 8 extra games than us because of Europe this season, it's hardly an additional full season on top. In fact, if you take our league cup competitive games into account, they had an additional 4 games than us (appreciate that they fell at different times).
The lower leagues all have to do it. It's not like Portsmouth have a harder run than someone mid table they all will play their 46 league games and will play midweek fixtures at the same time as the rest of them so it evens itself out. Albeit the standard of play tends to suffer in the colder more hectic months. It's also not unusual to see some League 1/2 squads use just shy of 40 different players in a single season, even if 3/4 play 1 or 2 games or some guys turn up on loan for 2 months. Compare that to Hearts who are sitting about 30 players used this season.

Playing Group Stage football in Scotland is undoubtedly a 'hinderance' to your domestic run. Travelling to deepest darkest parts of former Iron Curtain nations or the arse ends of places where timezones are closer to resembling different dates in the calendar than matching your tea time in high stakes games will take it out of you before having to get back and have 2 days to prepare for a game against opponents that are already all quite close together in competitiveness fighting for every point they can get.