It's snow joke so is it time for a winter break?

The recent cold snap has re-ignited the calls for a winter break in English football following a glut of postponements which will result in some clubs facing backlogs of fixtures in the second half of the season.

A winter break would certainly prevent supporters from being inconvenienced as a number have been over the Christmas period from matches being called off far too late (more of that later). It would also allow players to have a break from competitive action and return fresher after the break.

However, just how much of a break would players really get? How many clubs would jet their squads off overseas for money making friendlies under the auspices of warm weather training camps? Would others arrange behind-closed-doors friendlies in order to give players match practice?

Many clubs have already had enforced breaks in December and I am sure those players are probably benefiting, but how can we predict when the bad weather is going to hit us in this country? If football shuts down for two or three weeks we will have to shoehorn those fixtures into an already congested fixture list, and if then we get bad weather the end of the season could descend into chaos.

In addition, the Christmas fixtures historically attract some of the biggest attendances of the season for many clubs so in terms of revenue any break would have to be away from the holiday period.

We are told that the England team would benefit from the top players having a winter break but for all the reasons above I am not sure I follow how that would be. Those players who play for the top clubs that are competing in the latter stages of the Champions League for example will continue to play two games a week for the majority of the season and travel thousands of miles during a season. If there was a break, then again there would be even less time for recuperation between matches surely?

So as far as I am concerned we should carry on as we are and continue to battle the weather when it comes! Do let me know what you think?

Having said that, I do think something needs to be done to prevent matches being postponed so close to kick-off times.

We experienced that very scenario on Boxing Day when we travelled to Ipswich, with no real concerns about a postponement when we set off just after 10am. After battling around the M25, which delayed us by a good half-hour, we were just approaching Portman Road when we were alerted by the Watford camp that the referee wasn't happy with parts of the pitch therefore was to hold a 1.30pm pitch inspection.

The scene that greeted us at Portman Road as officials inspect the frozen pitch

It would appear that the decision was already made however, as the stewards pitch side knew before then that the game was off and informed us as we made our way to the press entrance.

Just because the game was off didn't mean our day finished then however. Interviews were acquired and sent back to studios, articles written with reaction from players, managers, Chief Executives, the referee and even the groundsman too! It all added up to an eight and a half hour round trip, and I only got home a couple of hours earlier than I probably would have done had the game actually taken place!

So, could the decision to postpone the game have been made earlier to stop people travelling? Well, the pitch had been covered so until the covers were removed presumably the state of the pitch could not have been assessed. It was only when they were removed that a potential problem became apparent so the Ipswich groundsman probably found himself in a catch 22 situation. He wanted to keep the covers on as long as possible to protect the pitch but only discovered parts of the pitch were frozen when they were removed and there then wasn't enough time to do anything about them when the covers were removed. Also, it was only then that an inspection could take place so supporters, players, staff and media alike would all have been en route to the ground.

The frost is clear to see from pitch side at Portman Road

So what can be done? Maybe more and more local referees should be assigned to clubs to be on site from first thing in the morning on match days to monitor pitch conditions if the actual match referee is unlikely to be able to be there until lunchtime. Perhaps fines for clubs who fail to call in a referee early enough too? What do you think? How do we prevent late postponements in the future?

Of course it wasn't a postponement that was the concern when Watford entertained Cardiff City recently, it was an abandonment! With the fog rolling in there was a real possibility that the game might not be able to finish and I think if the game had needed another half an hour then it would have been called off. Although once the game had finished, it did seem to lift a little so the referee was certainly vindicated in allowing the game to conclude.

My view of the Rookery Stand a few minutes after the final whistle

Let's hope 2011 gets off to a great start and we are not talking about the weather, just about the quality of the football and fish and chips in the coming weeks!

Happy New Year and thanks for reading.