I think it would be absolutely outrageous for Premier League players to strike given the money they earn. Retire from international football if you want a rest.
A lot of them hold International football in a higher regard than they do club football. Even Phil Foden said recently that the Euros final was the biggest game of his career. So they aren’t going to retire from that, it’s their pinnacle.
(Although, international football does need looking at!)
Plus it’s not so much that they want a rest, they want to play in every game but do so safely and not risk injury or turning into shit knackered players too early, they want to be able to play every game in a smaller calendar… a calendar that wasn’t too bad a few years back and didn’t need changing, if a change was needed it would be reducing the number of games.
There’s no need for an international break three games into the domestic season, it never existed until the Winter World Cup a few years ago, and should be scrapped.
There’s no need to start the season so early anyway. Shouldn’t start until after the Transfer Window closes. Which would be manageable with fewer international breaks.
There’s no need for world tours in pre-season, it’s actually detrimental for players, in fact is probably the worst way athletes could possibly prepare for a season of performance… fuck them off, tell the Yanks and Koreans to go and watch their local teams, I would never expect the Tampa Coast Socks Stealers to come and do a pre-season tour of Wythenshawe so why do our teams have to be paraded around the world?
The Champions League didn’t need expanding. If you don’t make the Top 8, you could have four extra games to play compared to previous CL campaigns.
The Nations League was never needed and International friendles should have been scrapped decades ago. If the Nations League is to be a thing, it should be that that gets you to qualify for the Euros and World Cup and scrap the old fashioned qualification.
The Winter break is a silly idea because all it does is prolong the end of the season by a week and mean players get a week less holiday or a week less pre-season.
The Euros didn’t need expanding, it was fine the way it was. There’s far too much dross in there now.
The Copa America and ACON happen too often. They should be formatted every four years like the Euros are.
I’m with the players on this and would fully support them going on strike.