Newcastle football coach despairs of English fixture schedule
07 January, 2008
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| Liam Lawrence (R) of Stoke City vies with Mark Viduka of Newcastle United during the FA Cup third round football match at The Britannia Stadium, Stoke |
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STOKE, England (AFP)-Newcastle coach Sam Allardyce, who is fighting to save his job at the struggling club, launched a furious assault on the fixture schedule on Sunday claiming players are treated worse than racehorses.
After his team were held to a 0-0 draw by Championship promotion contenders Stoke City in the FA Cup third round, Allardyce highlighted the long-term dangers facing players after another intensive programme of festive football in England.
Casting aside concerns surrounding his own job at St James' Park, Allardyce turned attention towards the pitfalls facing those forced to play as many as five competitive fixtures within the space of two weeks.
"This was our fifth game in two weeks and itÂ’s a ludicrous position to be in," he said.
"It's making too many demands of professional athletes which is very, very dangerous. It would be nice to finish this spell and have a two-week break but the game's bosses wonÂ’t allow us that courtesy. The foreign players we have who are new to our league cannot understand it. They think we're crazy.
"Somewhere along the line a player will suffer a serious injury due to fatigue and longer-term there will be young men at the end of their careers needing hip and knee operations," Allardyce added.
"We are talking about elite athletes. You wouldn't treat racehorses like we treat our professional footballers and it has to stop before someone is seriously hurt."
In fairness neither NewcastleÂ’s cosseted players nor their lower league opponents appeared to be suffering from too much football as both sides set about serving up an entertaining, if goalless, draw in the last of the weekend's FA Cup third round ties.
This was no classic but it went some way towards epitomizing everything which is so good about the most famous knockout competition in the world.
Allardyce disagreed but Stoke could and should have claimed a rare scalp in front of fans craving success after many years in the doldrums.
A sustained period of pressure midway through the second-half seemed certain to decide the tie in the home teamÂ’s favour but Newcastle, to their credit, defended manfully for a manager who, according to some sources, has already 'lost' his dressing room.
"We had some great opportunities and didnÂ’t take them," said Stoke manager Tony Pulis. "That might be the bit of luck that Sam needs," he added as he reflected on how close home striker Jon Parkin had come to scoring from just a few yards out.
"Jon struck his first shot well but they got people in between their goal line and the ball. You have got to give Newcastle credit because they defended their box well.
"We've had some great opportunities but they got bodies in the way. I can't criticize Jon. He didn't blaze his chances wide and he turned the game for us."
The two teams will meet again on January 16 with a place in the fourth round at stake.
Allardyce made it clear he could do without another game with his contingent of African Nations Cup players absent but it seems there will be no break for Newcastle's manager anytime soon.
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