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Summer Football Debate


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Whilst the idea of standing at the Saints game with a cold pint in hand in glorious sunny mid-july is a smashing idea, it's just an idea. The likelihood is that it will be just as shite and wet as the rest of the year. The impractialities of adjusting the schedule to fit international tournaments is just too great and Russia recently switched to a regular season setup as it was hindering their clubs rather than helping in terms of continental football, international football and most importantly to clubs like us, the transfer market.

With a heavy heart, as I love the idea of summer football, I'd have to say keep it as it is. Plus the festive period is the absolute bollocks!

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Doncaster on the BBC website today confirms that we currently have an 11 month fixture calendar.

We start around the first week in August and we end at the end of May leaving June and July free unless we are in Europe and this usually only affects a couple of teams anyway.

Quite how 12-2 = 11 I have no idea.

Maybe Doncaster has your special aptitude for arithmetic.

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Savings you say? So where would the clubs do their pre season training in January.

Better pitch surfaces? Bollocks. How are you going to ensure that when your groundsman isn't going to be able to reseed the park.

Can you imagine trying to relay the playing surface in December. You'd have to be f**king nuts.

Fewer injuries? Really - yet you say that in World Cup and European Championship seasons players should just get used to playing far more midweek games to get a couple of months worth of fixtures cleared in time to take part in those tournament.

They'd do pre-season training on the exact venue they currently train in during those months. Was that a serious question from you?

As for re-seeding the surface, I've already explained that you could get away with a hybrid pitch. Or clubs could simply screw the nut and go for fully synthetic and join the 21st century.

During the World Cup year you play FOUR weeks earlier in the season in midweek. Hardly a huge ask.

The remaining matches which would overlap with the World Cup are scheduled when there are no World Cup matches on.

You are simply making up problems now where there are easy solutions.

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I love the summer. I love having time away from football - its like the school / College / Uni holidays for me. I love having the chance to do many things I do not do in the winter. I could not imagine me, this season, watching the shit we had witnessed recently whilst giving up glorious weekends.

I would still go when I wasn't doing anything else of course, but football would not be my priority and I would pay at the gate when I did go. I gave up season tickets in the past when I worked abroad and worked part-time on a huge renovation project and would give them up again. Its all about lifestyle choice and I would adapt. How many fans we lose and how many we gain is an unknown.

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They'd do pre-season training on the exact venue they currently train in during those months. Was that a serious question from you?

As for re-seeding the surface, I've already explained that you could get away with a hybrid pitch. Or clubs could simply screw the nut and go for fully synthetic and join the 21st century.

During the World Cup year you play FOUR weeks earlier in the season in midweek. Hardly a huge ask.

The remaining matches which would overlap with the World Cup are scheduled when there are no World Cup matches on.

You are simply making up problems now where there are easy solutions.

So if Scotland does manage to Qualify we're going to forget about aclimatisation, about squad get togethers, practice matches etc. Instead you reckon players are going to squeeze in a couple of quick league fixtures at New Douglas Park before jumping in a plane to Qatar and going straight into the group section matches....

I always thought Regan and Doncaster were the biggest idiots in Scotland, but then you post and I know the game could do much, much worse

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Do the people here saying they prefer to go on holiday etc in the summer realise we are still talking about a 10 month long fitba season here ? Some of that would be summer and the vast majority of it would be late winter/spring and autumn going back into winter. The notion of a January/February shutdown would effectively be the close season anyway. I think the Canary Islands do good business then too...

The people here have their own opinions, just because yours differs from mine is no reason to suggest yours is right.

Do the people here saying they prefer to go on holiday etc in the summer realise we are still talking about a 10 month long fitba season here ? Some of that would be summer and the vast majority of it would be late winter/spring and autumn going back into winter. The notion of a January/February shutdown would effectively be the close season anyway. I think the Canary Islands do good business then too...

BTW the second post is my own post, no idea why the site has put it up as your own, I used quote function as per usual, and it's not working Edited by buddiecat
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So if Scotland does manage to Qualify we're going to forget about aclimatisation, about squad get togethers, practice matches etc. Instead you reckon players are going to squeeze in a couple of quick league fixtures at New Douglas Park before jumping in a plane to Qatar and going straight into the group section matches....

Yes, you're quite right. The game is dying on its arse but what is really important is that around 2 players in a league of 42 clubs get to Qatar a week early. lol.gif

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Yes, you're quite right. The game is dying on its arse but what is really important is that around 2 players in a league of 42 clubs get to Qatar a week early. lol.gif

Well I would have said it would be more important that we don't f**k up the sport in this country forever - something that would happen if anyone in the game ever listens to you :rolleyes:

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With the school holidays over the summer, I would imagine most families will holiday during this period, which could result in a potential drop in gates.

Our weather is part of the parcel unfortunately in this country and you are never guaranteed a great summer of weather anyways.

I would go with a return to the winter shut down, with a slightly earlier start in July, just to avoid the postponements and bottleneck of fixtures.

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For what it's worth, have to say I've been getting pretty fed up with the forum of late due to the sheer volume of trolling and multiple aliases crippling any decent discussions. Was actually going to chuck it if I'm brutally honest, both viewing and contributing (I use the term loosely!).

However this is a really decent thread on the whole. A lot of opinion backed up with informed and even emotive arguments. Minimal troll/multiple aliases adding shyte to the pot.

Whether for or against, the Qatar WC in 2022 is probably worth keeping an eye on. If we end up having to monkey around with our domestic schedule then it could be that there is an almost enforced trial of sorts. For example, take the pain and switch to summer football in 2020, run the trial until 2024, with full reviews / critiques during and after. If it's p!sh chuck it, if it's good extend the trial. No question that the change is grief laden, but if Qatar forces it then it could be an opportunity to appease both sides of the argument.

Anyway, I came in to it with the comment 'I appreciate the complexities and concerns with doing so. It's a non-trivial change for a multitude of reasons.'

I'd say I'm even more of that opinion now, and have learned a lot from both sides. The forum doing what it does best!

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There's a whole heap of savings to be made in terms of running the club including floodlighting, heating etc as we'll effectively be switching out December and January for June and July.

Better pitch surfaces would be possible as well swapping those sets of months resulting in better quality football and fewer injuries.

In the longer term, playing in warmer months may see more kids prepared to go to matches during the summer holidays if we have the set of 4 catchup midweek games organised for that time when the World Cup isn't on.

You'd lose some season ticket holders who might baulk at losing a couple of matches due to holidays but I can't believe that would be more than a handful and TBH they'll pay at the gate for the rest of the season which will bring in more money anyway.

A better TV deal should be possible and that'll be the biggest financial incentive.

The one thing I can't work out however is how to allow the pitch to recover. That might need some real grass/synthetic hybrid solution as done at Murrayfield but it should be solvable.

That's the main benefit they'd be hoping for. Not much competition (football wise) on TV in the summer. I think TV money has done plenty to screw up the game as it is. And that its not really a contact sport anymore.

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Im for summer football! cant see many positives with winter football

We will still be playing football in the winter though.

The football season goes from the start of August til the end of May. You get June and July off at the moment.

We can maybe avoid December and January? Or january february? But we will still be sitting in freezing stadiums no matter what.

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Hmmm

Just imagine for a moment, that we have always played football in the Summer/milder months, but the game is slowly dying on on it's feet.

Someone with a bit of vision comes along and suggests we should play our national game in the Winter/colder months...

Now... how the fucjk is he gonnae sell that wan??

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Either that or clubs need to invest in stadium infrastrucure. We could fill in corners either with seats or Hibs style adverting hoardings to stop at least some of the gale force winds. Also installl roof space heaters in stands like at Ajax, Milan, etc.

Clubs cant have it both ways.

I wish we could afford a roof.

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