The increased clamour to find a solution to growing concerns over fixture congestion presents its own problems. Plenty of ideas but none that seem very workable.
Beneficiaries of such changes are the minority, a group of clubs that can afford squads of players capable of challenging on all fronts. That advantage no longer seems good enough as not only do sides competing in Europe every season have the strongest squads, but they also want changes to be made to their growing fixture schedule while using the English national team as the smokescreen.
Do clubs really care that much about the national team? They rarely have in the past when refusing to release players for international duty because of injury only to appear in the Premier League the following weekend.
With European competition ever expanding into a league format of its own, there is real concern that it will have a knock on effect to leagues across the continent, if indeed it has not already. Just look at how the top teams play weakened teams in the FA Cup or League Cup but will not consider doing the same in the Champions League.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been openly critical of the fixtures his side have had to face this season, particularly before they exited the FA Cup and you just know that incoming Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will be having his say on the matter when he arrives.
So where do those in charge of the game look to create that much needed breathing space for clubs that find being successful is such a bind?
The FA Cup has been the easy target lately with suggestions that replays should be scrapped. That would be harsh on the smaller sides in the competition that strive to be the next giant-killers. If this was implemented then maybe it would be an idea to distribute the combined funding for the competition between all the sides that make the third round, compensating lower league clubs for lack of possible income from any potential replays.
It would still take some of the magic away from the competition. Having already seen it changed to avoid multiple replays, it would be hard to see it changed much more from its current format. After all, it is the only competition to involve the whole footballing pyramid from grass roots park football with qualifying rounds kicking off as early as August each year.
Getting rid of the two legged Carling Cup semi-finals may help but not much, but perhaps we are onto something. This is the competition that could be targeted for change as it is often seen as one that we could all do without. Removing it would leave quite a gap in the footballing calendar and after all, this is a competition that provides the winners with a place in Europe. The big sides have taken this competition very seriously in the latter stages in recent years for that very reason.
Another option would be to reduce the Premier League to eighteen sides which has been brought up before but that only expands the leagues below and cause a real headache deciding how to get down to those eighteen elite teams and making it two up two down rather than the current three. Whether the Football League would agree to that is another matter.
The winter break has been brought up a lot too but and is something that could easily be abused by clubs choosing to go on tour to Asia or America instead and making the break a complete mockery. Regardless, that would only increase fixture congestion as those games would have to be played sometime instead of lengthening the season.
It is difficult to understand how all this would help the England team unless a season was made shorter with less football being played allowing players to be fresh and raring to go for a summer tournament. If qualifying campaigns go accordingly to plan that is.
While it is a select few Premier League clubs seemingly struggling to cope with the increased fixture list, you have to consider how the lower leagues cope. There is not much moaning from the Championship, League 1 and League 2 which are all made up of twenty-four teams meaning forty-six games to play in a season not taking into account cup competitions. These are teams that have less funding for both player recruitment and technology to aid fitness, recovery and the like.
While this article seems openly critical of every option that has been suggested, it just goes to show that there is not one simple solution that will please everyone. What about the clubs, the majority in this equation, that fixture congestion rarely effects? They would just have to deal with any changes that are deemed appropriate. Perhaps the only solution is to leave well alone and for the successful clubs to deal with the rewards that come with such perceived glamour of having to play more football.
Everyone likes a game of football, so much so that we are almost able to watch a live game every night of week feeding the hunger of us fans. The game is arguably at its highest ever profile with companies continuing to fall over themselves to throw their money at it for more and more football while clubs seemingly do not want to play more football.
The classic 3pm kick off time on a Saturday is a dying bread in the top division these days much to many fans dismay but will such changes end there?
It is doubtful. The liklihood is that something will have to give at some stage but all the while there is big money being pumped into the game creating the need for football twenty-four seven, clubs can stamp there feet all they want.
Clubs seemingly want the best of both worlds but it simply cannot happen.
Listen to this very subject being discussed on the EPL Round Table podcast.
