CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers believes Scottish football should consider a switch to summer football - a scenario that would see matches like this afternoon’s Betfred Cup final between his side and Aberdeen become the end-of-season finale.
Rodgers pinpointed the wintry weather in Scotland this week – when temperatures dropped to as low as -10C in places – and the early start for teams trying to qualify for European competition as the twin factors that ought to precipitate a switch in the calendar.
When Celtic faced Astana in the third qualifying round of the Champions League in July and August, the Kazakhstan side were already midway through their domestic campaign and Rodgers felt Scottish football could similarly benefit from not playing through the winter.
“Having been here now and experienced it I would say that there is an argument to say a season which starts in February to November would actually work up here and there would be benefits for clubs,” he said.
“There would be financial benefits, and benefits for coaching in the warmer months. Then when you are midway through your season you get the qualifiers. Astana had played 22 games by the time we faced them – and that’s remarkable because we had only played once.
“I’ve only been here a few months, but it’s getting colder. And in terms of coaching it’s tough. We’re blessed in terms of what we have here compared to other teams, but if you take a developing kid for example, the best months of the year he’s off. Now – in season – it’s just about keeping kids warm. You can’t coach them. At Liverpool we actually turned things around because of this. If you are outside it’s tough. It was minus 8 here this morning.”
Rodgers also revealed that Celtic were in talks with “a very small number of people” as they look to appoint a new head of football development to replace John Park who left the club last month.
“There’s nothing imminent but when I spoke to Peter [Lawwell, Celtic chief executive] we said, “let's just take our time”. It's not about getting someone for the role, it is about getting the right person. That's key. We are in a process at the moment, speaking to a very small number of people and we will see where we’re at.”
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