Winter shutdown top of agenda in new Scottish football shake-up

SCOTTISH football is set for yet another major shake-up with the return of the winter shutdown in 2016/17 top of the agenda.

The SPFL are considering the introduction of a month-long break in January after concerns were raised over the shortening of the close season.

In recent years, sides involved in European competition have found themselves pressed back into competitive action little more than a month after the conclusion of the domestic campaign.

In order to prepare for Continental ties, the likes of Aberdeen and St Johnstone have, in consecutive years, been forced to recall players for pre-season training

after breaks as short as three weeks.

Celtic, whose Champions League campaign begins in just over a fortnight, enjoyed a month off before resuming work last week. But five first-team stars along with Aberdeen’s Mark Reynolds were on Scotland duty, which severely curtailed their recovery time.

With the European Championships scheduled for next summer and the impending introduction of the UEFA Nations League after the World Cup in 2018 there seems little prospect of our top players being handed any summer respite.

And a move away from staging games in freezing winter conditions would be attractive to fans too.

Six months ago, The Sunday Post surveyed Scottish supporters’ views on changing

the fixture calendar in the New Year and

the results were telling.

More than 50% of respondents called for the traditional football season to be revamped to avoid the winter weather.

A high-level strategy group made up of club and SPFL representatives and thought to include Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has now been tasked with finding a solution to the problem.

It is understood a four-week break beginning after the traditional New Year fixtures is favoured by Premiership clubs.

And any such move could trigger the staging of domestic games in July in order to make room in the fixture calendar for a winter stoppage, and to better prepare our European representatives for knock-out action.

SPFL Secretary Ian Blair (left)admitted: “We’re looking at the fixture issues to try and find ways in which we can make the best use of dates that are available.

“We cannot lose sight of the key European dates and international dates we have to avoid. So that may lead us towards playing more games in the early summer than late summer, whether that’s the League Cup in July or starting the League in July.

“In order to ensure there is a decent break, we have to look at the possibility of a winter break.

“It is a debate which is underway at all levels within the game, but there are no specific solutions at this point.”