Winter break ruled out

CHADDERTON and Oldham Town have poured cold water on a suggestion to introduce a mid-season break in the Vodkat North-West Counties League.

The local clubs believe the proposal from Bacup Borough boss Brent Peters, whose club has one of the most exposed grounds in the country, is a non-starter.

Peters has seen Bacup suffer five postponed matches in December and, is advocating a break for the last two weeks of the year.

But Chadderton manager Paul Buckley said: “It is all right saying shut down for the second half of December, but when we return in January we could be hit by a freeze and end up not playing for an even longer period.

“We have recently experienced a three-week break when we didn’t play due to the bad weather. It was hard for us as we lost the momentum we had built up.”

Buckley says he would favour more midweek matches early in the season which would provide more scope in the event of of bad weather in the winter.

Oldham Town secretary Dave Shepherd believes a mid-season shutdown in a non-starter for the same reasons.

“We have already had a number of postponements but next year bad weather might not affect us until January or February. It is impossible to foresee when it will strike,” he explained.

Mossley manager Chris Willcock, whose side plays in UniBond League first division north would not object to break for a one-season trial to see if it works.

But he says he cannot see it happening because Christmas/New Year fixtures attract the largest crowds of the season so clubs lose out financially.

Willcock said: “I have grown up when football is played over the festive period and it is in my blood.

“Personally, I would not object to having a look at a break for a one-season trial, though I cannot see it ever happening.

“As a manager it would make my job easier as I have a lot of single men in my team and I would not have to worry about them having too much to drink if there were no games at this time of year.”

n BRENT Peters is no stranger to raising the profile of Bacup Borough, having made an offer to Andy Cole, the former Manchester United striker who recently retired.

He insists it was no gimmick, pointing out that Borough persuaded former Manchester United centre-half David May to appear for them some years ago.