Premier League Considering Adding Winter Break In 2019

With a new TV deal currently being negotiated, England’s top flight ponders adding a January break to the schedule.

Football in England steeped in tradition.

The season starts, traditionally, with the Community Shield, wherein the league champion plays the FA Cup victor. There is the November tradition of Arsenal going on a month-long slump. The December tradition of Arsene Wenger doing just enough to keep his job in London. The traditional holiday fixture list, with matches coming “thick and fast” between the end of December and the beginning of January. There is the tradition of describing said games as coming “thick and fast.” There is the traditional eschewing of a winter break. And the traditional moaning about no winter break from the country’s top managers and Jose Mourinho.

Traditions are very important to English football. And these traditions must be upheld, rigorously.

But the tradition of not taking a mid-winter break is now under consideration, as the Premier League looks ahead to the next TV deal, set to start in 2019. According to the BBC, the league is currently looking into implementing a winter break, in January, following the traditional run of holiday fixtures.

There is no word yet as to how this would impact the domestic club competitions, or, how long the break would last. The longest break among Europe’s top leagues this season came in the Bundesliga, with German clubs enjoying a 22-day vacation.

Traditionalists are sure to be against this, but well-rested squads are bound to produce better football in the second half of the season. It might even have the knock-on effect of helping England avoid the traditional choke job in major competitions.

However, certain managers (looking at you, Jose) will now have to come up with new excuses as to why their excessively expensive clubs are underperforming around this point in the season.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com