In the summertime when the weather's high

[UK Redsox]

The Super Soar Away.....

UEFA president Michel Platini is leading the push for the introduction of a controversial international calendar throughout the soccer world.

And the proposals for the revolutionary changes are already well under way at FIFA's Swiss HQ.

Platini's shock idea will mean that, from 2015, major tournaments such as the World Cup, European Championships and African Nations Cup would be staged in February and March.

And to accommodate the upheaval, every league in the world would be forced to cram their domestic season into a 7½-month period between mid-March and the end of October.

That would leave a six-week period from November to mid-December for international qualifying games followed by a complete four-week rest for every player until mid-January.

What's the H&V view ?

Do you want to spend your summer afternoons at Villa Park ?


Link

[Dave P]

I can hear women all over the land tapping a rolling pin in their hand at the though of the football season taking up the summer.

[German James]

What shite! I'd hope the FA (and the DFB, for that matter) would tell them where to go.

[ozzjim]

Watching a game in the warm is more fun than the freezing cold. Easier to get crowds to night games too and maybe more kids could go on the school holidays. Football is invariably better in the warmer months than the summer, and it never gets so hot here that players would struggle.

Flip side it would feel a bit weird.

Probably going to be a minority as this develops, but I would be for it.

[andyh]

One mans whim wants to change decades of tradition ?
It will be interesting to see those games in Greece, Spain, Italy etc played in Mid August when the temperatures can reach 40 C.
What about the impact on Summer sports....cricket etc?
And what about my holiday ?
I can't miss the villa to lie on a bloody beach somewhere.

Its an outrage !!

[Smoke]

I cant get through the xmas period without being able to escape the endless roast dinners and family small talk by going to watch the Villa.

fúck Platini and his Nobel Peace Prize aspirations.

[The Situation]

Domestic football in the summer, World Cup's in the winter; watch and wait, our prime time Saturday 3PM kickoffs in November will be spent watching the Hyundai A-League.

[jonzy85]

Sky wont let this happen.

Football is the only thing that keeps them going in the winter (besides darts).

Platini just comes out with these hair brained ideas every now and again to make sure people know he still exists.

[OzVilla]

watch and wait, our prime time Saturday 3PM kickoffs in November will be spent watching the Hyundai A-League.

In that case you'd need to be pretty desperate for a football fix then, it's shocking.

[The Situation]

watch and wait, our prime time Saturday 3PM kickoffs in November will be spent watching the Hyundai A-League.

In that case you'd need to be pretty desperate for a football fix then, it's shocking.

Brisbane Roar vs Adelaide United sounds more exciting than Birmingham vs Stoke - atleast you would be in for a surprise.

90 minutes of not knowing what to expect and seeing divers being sent off on the spot, or 90 minutes of long throw ins and hoofing a ball up to a 6ft8 striker who still can't head the ball? I know what I'd rather watch.

[The Man With A Stick]

Football gets me through the winter months and I can think of far better things to be doing in the summer than fretting about the Villa.  I normally agree with Platini but he can shove this idea.  It's a non-starter anyway.

[OzVilla]

Brisbane Roar v Adelaide United - think Dagenham and Redbridge v York City.

But the comedy defending can be funny at times.

[CJ]

Breathtaking cynicism from Platini. For me this is purely and simply to pave the way for their Qatar chums to move their World Cup to the winter.  Blatter said earlier this week they would not move the 2022 WC to the winter unless the Qatar FA requested it.  This avoids the need for Qatar to submit said request, avoids the ridiculous notion that Qatar will build air conditioned stadia which they'll then move to Africa, and avoids backlash from Australia and USA who have already complained that the goalposts for the bid were moved after the bid went to Qatar. This will be an experiment which will miraculously be found unsuccessful about a month after the conclusion of the 2022 WC finals.

Not sure that Sky will have too much influence by then given the 'break even' rules coming in in a couple of years, and also not sure what TV coverage/revenue has influence in other/overseas FA's. But, as others have said, what happens to other summer sports - cricket, tennis and golf spring to mind.

If this happens my winter Saturday afternoons will be spent at Kidderminster Harriers - 5 mins away, great food, back home 15 minutes after the game finishes, no prima-donna millionaires taking the piss out of the club etc.  Who knows - I might enjoy it so much that I wouldn't bother going back to the Villa.

[The Situation]

I normally agree with Platini

Not....Sure....If....Serious

[villajk]

I think the cricketing authorities may have something to say about this.

From a personal point of view, when I'm sitting in -5 temperatures at Anfield, I pray for summer time football, but no, I don't want my summer taken up with it.