Paul Lambert Scotland needs a winter break

Paul Lambert believes reintroducing the winter break would benefit top-flight football in Scotland.

The Aston Villa manager is convinced we should follow the example set by nations such as Germany by shutting down for the winter months.

Lambert first experienced the shutdown during his time at Borussia Dortmund in 1997 when he helped the club lift the Champions League (right).

Clubs in the Bundesliga stop playing games for a six-week period and the former Scotland internationalist would give plans to implement a similar break his backing.

He said: “The benefit you get from a winter break is fantastic. It can make a huge difference to a player.

“You’d be surprised at the amount of players who are carrying knocks and don’t really get a chance to fully recover.

“I’ve played with players who haven’t managed to train and just play games and it doesn’t do them any favours. You can never operate at your very best if that is the case.

“But if you have a break it offers you some respite. And the better condition a player is in the better they will perform. The quality increases.

“The first time I experienced it was over in Germany. It definitely helped me. You see a lot of leagues in Europe doing it and I think it is something worth looking at.”

Have your say in our summer football surveyLambert insists it isn’t a case of the players enjoying a second close season to jet abroad and soak up the sun.

“It isn’t like that,” he said. “You get a couple of weeks off over the festive period which is nice but after that it is back to work.

“It’s almost like a mini pre-season. It is tough work. But not having the intensity of games at the weekend and sometimes during the week allows you to recover and reach peak condition for the second half of the season.”

Lambert says the problem with any proposed shutdown in Scotland is the fact it’s impossible to predict when the weather will take a turn for the worst.

“What month do you shut everything down?” he asked.

“You could close down during December and January but find the weather worse in February.

“You can’t predict when the weather will take a turn for the worst in Scotland so that will always be a problem.

“Some clubs probably don’t want the break for financial reasons either. But the players would definitely benefit from it and it would improve the product on the park.”

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Paul Lambert Scotland needs a winter break