Rousseau 9,370 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) I don't get the summer football thing. Is that starting the league 2 weeks earlier to allow a two week break in January? Are people going to go on holiday in march to Spain when the temperature is 17 degrees? Scotland has a weather system that can have 12 degrees in January but also 12 degrees in July. Sorry I just don't get it. Never entirely sure myself but I think summer football means we'd start the season february/march and finish october/november like they do in the scandanavian countries.Can see a lot of merits but I'd have thought attendances would be hit june/july when a lot of people take their summer holidays. The Swedish Allsvenkan runs from March to early November. Teams are going to be more 'match sharp' for European qualifiers, but of course their 'level' means that they don't go far. Not sure if we (Scotland) are much 'better' than the Scandinavian countries. Wouldn't attendances be better in the summer months, with the weather allowing more people to go along to a game, than attendances in the winter months? Edited December 9, 2015 by Rousseau 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rousseau 9,370 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) Just looked at the Coefficient: the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are higher than the Scottish league in the coefficient, and all play in the summer months. It must have some benefit. More points mean more CL places, which means it's a lot easier for us to get into the Group Stage! Edited December 9, 2015 by Rousseau 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMc 2,472 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 There's a misconception as to what the 'winter break' is actually for. Forget about the weather, it's not connected to that, the word 'winter' is misleading in this. The winter break is designed to give players, and so teams, a 'break' allowing them to recharge their batteries for the second half of the season. Popular belief has it that most Scottish footballers are unfit, heavy drinking, junk food gobbling feckless morons pissing their careers away. The reality is somewhat different, most are actually fairly diligent when it comes to fitness and conditioning and almost all professional players during the season play with injuries. The winter break is supposed to help players get over these injuries, either through a complete break or through intensive physio, a small op etc. There is a school of thought that says England, and sides with the majority of their players in the English league, perform poorer at World Cups and Euros because of the lack of a winter break. The intensity and physicality of the football in England leaves players in poor condition by the end of the season. Anyway, put me in the 'League Cup revamp is a further indication that those running the game don't have a clue what they're doing' camp. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,245 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) I don't get the summer football thing. Is that starting the league 2 weeks earlier to allow a two week break in January? Are people going to go on holiday in march to Spain when the temperature is 17 degrees? Scotland has a weather system that can have 12 degrees in January but also 12 degrees in July. Sorry I just don't get it. Ain't there more to that than temperature? We regularly have games postponed between November and the end of February - even though the first tier grounds are less prominent here. We finished our league season on May 31st, started again on July 25th. Granted, both were not what you would expect us to do every season, but we should look beyond Rangers here too. Given that teams want some holidays AND a pre-season before starting any competition (IMHO one of the main reasons, why Scottish teams have been so woeful in European qualifiers), starting seasons two weeks earlier will not suffice for those involved in play-offs et al. I actually just noted that the women games last from mid-March to early November, even though they just play 21 games (only on Sundays). They have a 3-week break in early July to allow for a summer break. Which could be just one basis rather than a suitable suggestion, somesuch would have to come from Sweden or Norway. Is there a chance of a massive drop in crowd figures due to thousands upon thousands of supporters (well, for the bigger clubs) being on holiday? For weeks upon weeks? Perhaps. But will it be worse than having to play Friday night or re-arranged midweek games, or people staying away because of the woeful weather throughout winter? In turn, given that there might be greater TV interest in competitive summer football, wouldn't TV coverage make up for any holiday-loss-of-crowd? A bigger stumbling block would be mid-summer tournaments like WC or European Finals. But again, the Swedes et al seem to manage that too. Well, all just as food for thought, which is better than going straight against it "just because" ... NB: The coefficient of the Scandinavian leagues is (IMHO) better because once the European qualifiers (CL and EL) happen by, their teams are 7 or more weeks into a season, while most of the Scottish players have about two to three weeks of pre-season under their belt. Edited December 9, 2015 by der Berliner 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 The Swedish Allsvenkan runs from March to early November. Teams are going to be more 'match sharp' for European qualifiers, but of course their 'level' means that they don't go far. Not sure if we (Scotland) are much 'better' than the Scandinavian countries. Wouldn't attendances be better in the summer months, with the weather allowing more people to go along to a game, than attendances in the winter months? At the Glasgow fair we would need to play the game in Blackpool. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgacus 8 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 At the Glasgow fair we would need to play the game in Blackpool. yes...none of this American nonsense for us! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger_syntax 3,767 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Just looked at the Coefficient: the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are higher than the Scottish league in the coefficient, and all play in the summer months. It must have some benefit. More points mean more CL places, which means it's a lot easier for us to get into the Group Stage! A rather large inferential step. It doesn't really follow at all that it must have some benefit. This is the kind of stuff that haunts every discussion about any kind of restructuring. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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