Andy Gray says introducing a winter break would benefit every team in the Premier League.
Fortnight off would ease demands of heavy winter schedule
Let's hope the Premier League is back in full swing this weekend after last week's snow shutdown.
I was more than a little disappointed that so many matches were called off. I don't think it reflected well on the English game.
Of the seven matches that were postponed, six were at stadia perfectly capable of hosting a game, thanks to the impressive efforts of the ground-staff.
But those games didn't go ahead because Health and Safety issues stopped people from travelling to the grounds.
You might have guessed that I'm not a signed up member of the Health and Safety brigade - to my mind they are far too busy far too often.
All through my life football has been played in inclement weather but now we cancel games at the drop of a hat because fans might have trouble getting to them. That's not my bag.
Regroup
Last weekend gave us an indication of what it might be like to have a winter break in the season - something Sir Alex Ferguson has been calling for again recently.
I must admit that now I am more in favour of seeing one introduced than I have ever been. As a player and even in my early days at Sky I was very much of the view that we didn't need a winter break in our domestic programme but I've since changed my mind.
I am not talking about a weather break. Conditions in England fluctuate too much between November and January to make trying to get a winter break to coincide with the worst conditions a lottery.
Rather I, like Sir Alex, would like to see the Premier League designate the first fortnight in January as a break for the benefit of every team in the league.
It would allow clubs to regroup after the heavy Christmas schedule, teams and managers to recharge their batteries and players to get over any niggles they might have.
Flexibility
I'm sure fans would get used to the break - much in the way that they have become used to Monday night football - and if supporters felt too aggrieved, the Premier League could work it so that the players have just one weekend off.
For example, this season's break could have run from January 4 2009 to January 15 - just under a fortnight - with the Premier League resuming on the 16th.
The third round of the FA Cup would have to be moved but we have been able to rearrange all of the recently postponed matches so there is flexibility within the fixture schedule to accommodate that.
I don't agree with the argument that a winter break will back-end the season too heavily, putting any prospective World Cup or European Championships campaigns at risk.
As it stands this league season ends on May 9 and that hasn't changed despite the recent bad weather. Putting the last round of matches back one weekend shouldn't be a problem, in my view.
Alternatively, we can compress the season because there are already spare mid-week days where we could fit an extra game in.
Every game would still be played so there wouldn't be an impact on club revenue, while the TV fixtures would still be screened - just at a different time.
Quality
Nobody is disputing that the players can play Saturday-Wednesday, Saturday-Wednesday but what we have to think about is the quality of the football given the demands on modern day players.
I think we should do everything we can, as they do for the most part across Europe, to help the teams that are in the Champions League and Europa League.
Our representatives in Europe - whoever they might be - should not be playing big, big Premier League matches days before or after a game in the knockout stages.
To me we are not helping our Premier League clubs to win the Champions League as much as we can; it's a wonder our teams have done so well to reach the latter stages of the competition as they have done in recent years.
Experienced
One manager who I bet can't wait to get in the thick of the action is Brian Laws, whose appointment as Burnley boss somewhat surprised me.
I can't imagine joining a Premier League club was at the forefront of his mind when Sheffield Wednesday sacked him but he's been given a chance and I wish him the very best.
Burnley clearly believe Brian has what it takes to keep them in the Premier League - we'll have to wait and see on that score - but there's no doubt Owen Coyle is a tough act to follow.
It's fair to say I fear for Burnley, I really do because as impressive as their home form is I think teams will beat them at Turf Moor in the second half of the season so they must improve on the road.
In fact I am more confident about Bolton's survival chances of staying up because they have players who have experienced a Premier League relegation scrap before and now have a good manager in Owen who will definitely get money to spend in January if he wants it.
Throw in the fact that they have two games in hand on West Ham, Hull and Portsmouth - as well as one on Wigan - and I think Bolton's predicament looks worse than it actually is at the moment.
Let's hope the weather gives them the chance to try and prove that against Arsenal on Sunday.
