Darlington manager Tommy Wright says that he wouldn’t be in favour of a winter break.

As a player, Tommy appeared for Leicester, Barnsley and Darlington (amongst others on loan) in the Football League, Quakers in the Conference and Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership, and has managed Nuneaton, Corby and Quakers in the last four years.

There is a train of thought growing that football, at least at the highest level, should have a winter break in early January, but Tommy is against the idea.

“I’m a traditionalist, I don’t want a winter break,” he said. “In fact, I would like to see more football between Christmas and New Year. I used to love having a game between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. It was the time of year when managers used to say to players that we had a busy period coming up in which we could gain a lot of points. And then we used to look forward to the third round of the FA Cup, assuming we were in it, of course.

“If we had a winter break, it would mean that more games would be re-arranged in midweek, which would mean clubs possibly travelling long distances in midweek, and players becoming more and more tired.

“The top clubs would probably arrange foreign tours anyway and play matches so then the players can maintain their match fitness, so they’re not really having a break! I think those who are making most noise are the foreign managers, who aren’t used to the wintry conditions.

“I used to really look forward to a game on a Saturday after training hard all week, so it would all become a bit flat and boring, especially for non-league players.”

Quakers had their game at Tamworth called off last Saturday because of a frozen pitch, so in effect Quakers have had a break anyway before the Curzon Ashton game this Saturday.

“If there was a winter break at this level, how do you know when the bad weather is going to be?  You could have a fortnight’s break built into the fixtures, and then be off another fortnight because of bad weather. You could then go a full month without a game, and the absence of a home game in that period of that time has a big impact on the club’s cash flow.

“If it comes to that, I don’t see how a winter break will benefit lower league football.”