World Cup change may not be for the good of the game says Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill
Steve Cotterill believes the current changes to football may not be in the game’s best interests – ahead of the World Cup starting this weekend in Qatar.
It is the first time a World Cup is going to be held in mid-season, meaning the Premier League and the Championship have stopped until December.
However, Shrewsbury Town’s games are set to continue without any interruption to their fixtures.
And the Town boss Cotterill is not sure some of the issues facing football at the moment, including the World Cup in Qatar, are necessarily good for the game.
“This is a huge change for football, to be having a World Cup mid-season,” the boss said about the tournament.
“There are a lot of changes going on in football, and I am not sure they are all for the good, or they could easily water it down.
“But we would not say that if England go there and do really well in it.
“Whereas normally, in England, our top players have slogged through 60 odd games, and then they send them to a World Cup when they are shattered.
“So they have only got to go on the back of 30 games on the back of European Championships that ended up being delayed.”
Salop are struggling with injury problems at the moment.
George Nurse and Dan Udoh are out for the season with ACL injuries, but also Aiden O’Brien and Julien Dacosta are still battling with injuries.
The pair went to London for injections last week – the final one of a course of three – and the club are hoping this clears up the problem.
And perhaps a break would have given Town’s players the time they need to recover ahead of the busy Christmas and New Year schedule.
The same also applies to Carl Winchester and Elliott Bennett, who have struggled with injury too.
And Cotterill says the break will be wanted by some clubs and not by others saying all teams are different depending on their situation.
“What you can’t have is other managers in the league above moaning about it stopping,” he said, about changes to the schedule because of the World Cup.
“And then we can’t moan about it carrying on.
“It depends on where you are at this moment in time.” Meanwhile, Shrewsbury and Barnsley have been charged for failing to control their players during Saturday’s clash at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
The Yorkshire-based side ended up 1-0 victors in the match.
But a melee in the 94th minute between both sets of players – as Shrews searched for an equaliser – has left both sides facing repercussions from the FA.
A statement by the FA said: “It is alleged that both clubs failed to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrain from provocative behaviour in the 94th minute.”
Both sides have until Friday to respond to the claim.
