ALEX FERGUSON has accused the Football Association of handicapping England at the World Cup through its failure to introduce a winter break to the Premier League season.
The Manchester United manager has been a long-time advocate of halting the season in January and believes England’s dire performances in South Africa provide overwhelming evidence to support his argument.
Among the many reasons offered for Wayne Rooney’s lacklustre World Cup was fatigue following the end of United’s domestic campaign, when the England striker also suffered an ankle injury in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Ferguson insists England’s problems are more deep-rooted and stem from the demand on players throughout December and by TV.
Whether his proposal will be considered, however, appears unlikely, as the issue is not on the FA’s agenda and was not mentioned in a statement on improving the national team from the organisation this week.
“The FA has to give the country the best possible chance of doing well in the World Cup,” said the United manager. “Because of the nature of our game and the demands from TV to have a programme every week, the idea of a winter break, which I was first talking about 30 years ago in Scotland and have done since I came down to England, nothing has happened about it. They must realise, going into the World Cup, they have handicapped their team.”
Resting players after a gruelling festive period, Ferguson believes, could give England a chance to match Germany’s consistent success in international competitions.
He added: “The English season is exhausting. Most Decembers we play between eight and nine games at the worst time of the year. The pitches are heavier, the weather is worse and then in the second half of the season you’ll find a lot of players at all clubs carrying strains, pulls, but because of the importance of the games they keep on playing.
“And then when they get to the end of the season and have a major tournament like a World Cup or European Championship they are not 100 per cent fit, they can’t be. They need that rest factor which brings the energy back into the system. Germany always take that month-long break in January and they seem to do better in World Cups than anyone ever expects.”
Last week Ferguson conceded Rooney will be haunted by his disappointing World Cup but is adamant that, at club level, the 24-year-old who scored 34 goals last season is on an upwards trajectory that will see him become “the complete footballer”.
“He had an improvement in terms of his timing and movement in the penalty box and his positioning was improved from the previous season,” said the Scot, reflecting on last season. “He got us over 30 goals and if he does that again and adds a little bit to his game then that is what we expect.
“The boy has got an incredible armoury of talent and what we have to do is to wait for that maturity. We also do nurture it and try to advise and coach in a fashion which will improve his game. But the most important thing I think he needs now is maturity and, when he gets that, I think you will see the complete footballer.”
Ferguson pinpointed refereeing decisions in United’s two league defeats by Chelsea as a major factor in the club’s failure to land a fourth successive title. “I think there were two or three decisions against us, refereeing decisions, that killed us in both games. If we had drawn one of the games we would have won the league.”
United warmed up for today’s pre-season friendly against Philadelphia Union by paying tribute to one of the city’s most famous fictional sons. In a break from the usual pre-season slog, their players recreated “Rocky’s” pounding of the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Darron Gibson has left the tour to return home to Ireland following his grandmother’s death. He is expected to rejoin the squad before the tour moves to Kansas.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)