JEFF POWELL: Yes, I can understand the physical 需要・要求するs that mean footballers need a winter break... But surely it's too 'woke' to （人命などを）奪う，主張する they need one for their mental health

• e-mail

The?snowflakes will be 落ちるing on exotic faraway beaches for the next couple of weeks as our most precious footballers 捜し出す 避難 from the intolerable 強調する／ストレス of……playing football matches.

And do I mean precious, though not only in 言及／関連 to their ludicrous 移転 料金s and ridiculous salaries.

After more than 130 seasons of the English game 存在 played through rain, snow, ice, mud, 強風s and testicle-氷点の 気温s, our most over-paid and laughably molly-coddled professionals are 存在 given a 中央の-winter break.

The 首相 League is 始める，決める to be put on 持つ／拘留する next month for the 分割's first winter break

Priceless, it sure is.

The 推論する／理由 - as given in a letter sent by the 首相 League 教えるing all 20 of its clubs to 差し控える from 直す／買収する，八百長をするing lucrative friendlies during this off-period and 明らかにする／漏らすd by my Sportsmail 同僚 Matt Hughes - is to 確実にする their players are given a 一時的休止，執行延期 from 'the physical and mental rigours of playing matches.'

推定では every schoolboy who loves nothing more than kicking a ball about and dreams one day of doing just that for a Manchester 部隊d, Liverpool, 兵器庫, Manchester City, 刺激（する）s ? not forgetting England ? is spluttering with laughter into his lunch box.

It is certainly to be hoped so. A mental 緊張する to play the game? Oh boy, give us some of that.

星／主役にするs are 存在 given a 残り／休憩（する） from games with match week 26 to be 分裂（する） over two 週末s

傷害s are one thing, for which there is no 保証（人） of avoidance whether you are playin g in January or September. But mental 争い? Pur-賃貸し（する） Give me a break, never mind them.

The real 巨大（な）s of our 国家の game ? the likes of those who won England's only World Cup ? will be turning in their 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大なs or their beds.

So 'woke' has our world become that football itself has forgotten that football is a game to be played first and 真っ先の for fun. Certainly that is true for every lad and lassie when they roll up their first pair of socks.

Ask any footballer of even the 最近の past whether he would rather play two matches a week or have another couple of days' training and the answer would be 'give us the games.'

Now, even though the 最高の，を越す clubs have so many players on their 調書をとる／予約するs that not all play so many as one match a week, they are perceived as 存在 in danger of mental 決裂／故障s. 明らかに not even the 現在の vogue for squad rotation in preference to fielding your best team in every match for which they are fit is 十分な to lighten the psychological 重荷（を負わせる）.

Clubs 存在 given time off is just 奪うing the faithful 支持者s of their w eekly football 直す／買収する，八百長をする

Hence the mocking on social マスコミ where football is pointedly reminded that real 強調する／ストレス is the impossibility of 住宅 and feeding a family on the 最小限 行う, which for many necessitates working day and night at two or three menial 職業s.

首相 League footballers should count not only their money, but their blessings.

This particular contagion, however, runs deeper into the nature of modern society. The elevation of footballers into the 人工的な realm of pop-星／主役にする celebrity has developed in many of them ? no 事柄 how 井戸／弁護士席 or 貧しく they 現実に play the game ? an absurdly inflated sense of self-entitlement.

They 支払う／賃金 lip-service to the 支持者s ? partly through the charade of applauding them at the end of matches, partly by lobbing into a few charities ? while in reality their high regard of themselves separates them from the fans who 最終的に foot their 天文学の 給料 through buying tickets, TV subscriptions and 商品／売買する.

Now the clubs are 奪うing the faithful of their 週刊誌 football 直す／買収する，八百長をする by either letting their players swan off on holiday or taking them on training （軍の）野営地，陣営 jaunts to sunnier climes.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will skip his 味方する's FA Cup because it 落ちるs in the winter break

The loudest 支持する of switching off the brightest source of light for football lovers while winter is in its January 不明瞭 has been Jurgen Klopp. Not only are his 星／主役にするs 存在 excused for Liverpool's FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury, which it now 落ちるs to reserves and juniors to fulfil, but the 経営者／支配人 will not be turning up at Anfield, either.

Too much of a 緊張する? Hard to believe since Klopp comes across as mad as a hatter, anyway. Gloriously so, as it happens, and neither Liverpool nor the English game would want him any other way.

As for the 首相 League players, is it really more 苦悩-inducing to be playing より小数の matches for greater fortunes than those in the lower 分割s who are struggling for results to 支える their day-to-day 暮らし and will carry on doing so in the 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるing 冷淡な.?

This unseemly 急ぐ to a winter break has received its final impetus from the need for FA Cup replays, like Liverpool's against Shrewsbury.

This in turn has cranked up the 圧力 for the most historic cup 競争 in football to be 廃止するd, a move connived at by the 最高の，を越す clubs fielding 弱めるd teams in those matches.

Their argument is that にもかかわらず 大規模な squads to 回転／交替, the lads play too many games. How's this for a 解答?

Liverpool have been （刑事）被告 by some of disrespecting the FA Cup by putting out weak teams

To obviate replays draw the lower club ? be it by place in the 分割 or from 負かす／撃墜する the leagues ? at home in every 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. And in the 事例／患者 of a 首相 League team against a minnow, let it 支払う／賃金 補償（金） to the smaller club to the gate value of a replay at the bigger stadium.

Then play that tie to a finish through extra-time and 刑罰，罰則s if necessary.

That would keep the big boys honest and 支える the 伝統的な romance of the Cup.