No need for official winter break, says Grimsby Town joint boss Rob Scott

GRIMSBY Town have just completed their mid-season winter break, so there's no need for an official lay-off.

That's the view of joint boss Rob Scott after the Mariners returned to action on Tuesday after ten days without a match.

Scott and co-manager Paul Hurst's men have seen three clashes – at Mansfield, Gateshead and Braintree – postponed over recent weeks.

And, as a result, the bosses feel their players have benefited from the kind of mid-season break that many football fans would like to see introduced.

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"We've just had nine or ten days off, so we've had a nice period of relaxation there through no fault of our own," Scott said.

"We've done a little bit of work where we can and the players have had a blow, but it's been a good break for them.

"It can be a grind – playing matches Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday – but we haven't had that over the last couple of weeks."

On the prospect of an official halt to fixtures – as with some countries in mainland Europe – Scott feels the idea is a non-starter.

He explained: "I don't know how you could do it – how do you know when the bad weather is going to come?

"You could say that the mid- season break is a week either side of the Christmas period when the weather is fine, and then come January the weather is like it is now and you have to have another two weeks off.

"What do you do then, extend the season for another four weeks into the summer?

"It's been like this throughout my career and I'm not one to start foraging to look for new ways of doing things."

Scott and Hurst have used the relative lack of match action since Christmas to vary their training and give the Town squad a chance to recharge the batteries.

"We've been all right – we've been able to train and do bits and pieces," Scott commented.

"It's easy to sit at home and say 'I can't do anything, there's a bit of snow,' but we've made the effort to come down, and do a bit of running and ball-work.

"Over Christmas and the New Year there can be the monotony of coming in, training, playing and being away from your family at what is normally a time to spend at home.

"But they know their jobs and that it's part and parcel of being a professional footballer, and I'm sure there would be many people who would swap their working lives for what the players do.

"We're a privileged group to be able to come in, train outside every day and play football.

"So the recent weather has provided a bit of a break from that. We've been able to train at different venues to freshen things up a bit and that has left the players invigorated."

He added: "It does get boring when you're just training all the time and you turn up at the same place – sometimes you want to get your teeth into a game.

"There will be lots of opportunities to do that in the coming weeks, with the weather we've had and the cancellations."