Exeter City boss Gary Caldwell has asked for the international break to be applied in League One following the latest round of postponements.
This weekend will see just 12 league fixtures played across the top four tiers of football, with teams in non-league facing one another in the final round of FA Cup Qualification. Just Crawley Town’s fixture against Shrewsbury Town and Rotherham United’s trip to Peterborough United are going ahead in League One.
For The Grecians, they have already seen last month’s home game against Birmingham City and a game against Mansfield Town, initially scheduled for today cancelled due to international call-ups. In the City squad, just two players have gone to represent their nations in Northern Ireland’s Josh Magennis and Finland’s Ilmari Niskanen.
With next month’s game against Lincoln City also likely to be affected, Caldwell has issued a plea for a break similar to that in the Championship to be implemented in the third tier. He said (Quotes via Devon Live): “I welcome it in the sense that it gives players time to rest, get other players training and players back from injury, so it does give us a reset, but I believe the whole league should have the international break.
“Now, League One is at a level where most teams have at least two, three or four international players, some a lot more, so I just think the whole league should have a break, otherwise we now find the league with teams at different stages and that gives, for me, an advantage to other teams, whether you have played games and won them, or played games and not.
“We’ve got games in hand and I think it changes the dynamic of the league, so I think the whole league should just have an international break – across the board.”
A big part of Caldwell’s argument is based in the financial impact missing these games will have on the club. It is well known that attendance for midweek games – which these postponed fixtures will be changed to – is lower than if it was played on a Saturday afternoon. Caldwell added: “It’s another huge issue for clubs and another reason why the league should just make it an international break for the whole league.
“We now face two games on a Tuesday that will probably be less attended than what we would have got on a Saturday, which impacts the club financially.“The whole League needs to look at it and for me, the best solution is across the board to have an international break.”
Writer’s View
Gary Caldwell has made a very good point about the number of postponements going on in League One right now. Losing these fixtures to call-ups do affect home teams, especially those with lower incomes and those who depend on matchday sales to make money and are losing that with rescheduled midweek fixtures. International breaks should be taken across the board in the EFL, giving players sufficient rest and increasing the number of fans able to attend games on the weekend.
For Exeter City, they will still suffer some further impact from this international break as Josh Magennis will have played just 48 hours before The Grecians face Shrewsbury Town on Thursday night. It is ridiculous for Sky to schedule a game that soon after players return from their breaks and likely have cost Caldwell two of his key players with Niskanen also in action against England in Helsinki. Salop will have also played this weekend against fellow strugglers Crawley Town, meaning as a whole they are disadvantaged compared to their counterparts who have had a long rest period.
