Premier League winter break: Clubs favouring rest over foreign trips
It is four years since West Bromwich Albion players illustrated the perils of Premier League clubs heading to sunnier climes for a winter break.
In an incident dubbed “taxigate”, a handful of senior players including Gareth Barry and Jonny Evans commandeered a cab during a late-night trip to McDonalds while on a mid-season warm weather training camp in Barcelona.
It resulted in a police investigation and some very sheepish apologies all round. “This is obviously not ideal,” manager Alan Pardew said at the time.
West Brom’s nocturnal vehicular adventures may not be the reason but, as the Premier League pauses for a fortnight-long winter break, it is notable that the vast majority of clubs have eschewed the trip overseas.
Only Arsenal and Newcastle United have taken their squads abroad, to Dubai and Saudi Arabia respectively, while champions and league leaders Manchester City had planned to visit Abu Dhabi but cancelled after a Covid-19 outbreak at the club.
It is not coincidental that all three teams have major sponsors or owners from those parts of the Middle East.
Of the rest, Brighton and Hove Albion, Burnley and Watford are holding training sessions as normal, but the remaining 15 clubs have given their players some time off.
Footballers’ social media accounts have been documenting their expeditions to far-flung locations including Sierra Leone, the Maldives and, of course, Dubai.
In the majority of cases, players are due back this weekend or the start of next week before fixtures resume on the weekend of 5 February.
The clubs who have favoured sweating their players throughout the winter break mostly have a pressing need to turn their form around, so there is a certain logic in operation.
Newcastle, Watford and Burnley are in the relegation zone, while a flagging Arsenal are seeking an extra push in the scramble to qualify for the Champions League. Brighton, safely ensconced in mid-table, are the exception.
Which teams are giving players time off during the winter break?
Yet there is no shortage of teams who could also use a big second half of the season but have opted for rest, including title-chasing Liverpool and Chelsea, top-four hopefuls Manchester United, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, and struggling Norwich and Leeds United.
It should perhaps be no surprise that Liverpool and Chelsea have grabbed the chance to give their stars a breather.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp has aired frequent complaints about the impact on player welfare of English football’s schedule, while his Stamford Bridge counterpart Thomas Tuchel has bemoaned the burnout affecting his squad.
Wider concerns about the physical and mental toll on footballers are also high on the agenda in a season that, due to the winter World Cup in Qatar later this year, is already squeezed.
While most will get a winter break, some Premier League stars from South America are heading home for a double-header of international matches.
And it is not just players who could benefit from a break. Claudio Ranieri’s departure from Watford this week made it eight Premier League managers sacked already this season.
That is as many as at this point in any of the last 10 seasons. Those in the dugout could be forgiven for seeking some respite from the pressure, and Brentford head coach Thomas Frank is reported to be heading to Switzerland to go skiing.
Who has got it right, the clubs using the winter break for an overseas trip or extra training camp, or those banking some rest? We won’t know until May.
Noted relegation survival specialist Sam Allardyce was fond of taking his teams to Dubai for warm-weather training in January, doing so at West Ham, Sunderland and Everton.
It worked for him, but as West Brom’s infamous excursion of 2018 shows, the ploy comes with pitfalls.