European football will be on Celtic and Brendan Rodgers’ mind sooner rather than later.
Two huge group games remain – a home clash against Young Boys and then a mouthwatering trip to the Midlands to take on Aston Villa on January 29.
Destiny is in Celtic’s hands and they know perhaps that one win could be enough to all but seal that play-off spot for the knockout stages.
If that happens, then two more matches will be added to Celtic’s calendar beyond January, and the games will continue to come in thick and fast.
Already in January, the champions have played four games – all Premiership matches, including Celtic’s win at Ross County over the weekend.
But there is plenty more action to come, including Celtic’s trip to Dundee on Tuesday night and then four more matches for the rest of the month.
All of it has resulted in the man in the dugout bringing up a much-talked-about topic from across Europe and that’s the heavy fixture list.
Brendan Rodgers told to approach Michael Nicholson to change SPFL rule
Thankfully, Celtic hold a 15-point lead at the top of the table, so it allows the manager to breathe easier and not take risks with players.
But that hasn’t stopped Rodgers from speaking about no winter break and how that has been replaced with ‘even more games’ because of the change in the European schedule.
However, Andy Walker has told Rodgers that if he wants to bring back the winter break, then he advised him to ‘go upstairs’ and speak to the club’s CEO, Michael Nicholson.
Walker pointed out that it’s the clubs who voted for the winter break to be scrapped and it’s only them who can bring it back, as he told Go Radio.
“My bigger picture thought on it that we knew up here December was always going to be a hard schedule,” said Rodgers.
“Getting through all of that and then you had your New Year’s game. Then you normally would have a couple of weeks to reset, refresh and go again for the second part of the season. To then have even more games in that period when you usually had a break is a real challenge. You can’t deny that – it’s a heavy schedule. We have to get on with it, but it’s not ideal.”
Walker then stated: “No, (I don’t sympathise with Rodgers). His first port of call should be going up the stairs, speaking to Michael Nicholson, it’s the clubs that voted to end the winter break. If you want to bring it back, then bring it back.
“But I seem to remember they wanted to end it because Celtic wanted a chance to go further in Europe, which was a reasonable thing to say, at the time. As with all of these things. It’s within the clubs themselves to change things. If Brendan wants that winter break back. Go up the stairs, and speak to Michael Nicholson. See if you can put it forward to other clubs. See if you can get it back and it might help Celtic in Europe given that the European schedule has changed. If Brendan is really serious about that, then get Celtic to see if you can get other clubs on board.”
What have the SPFL said about a winter break for the 2025/26 season?
Celtic have got a flavour of what the 2025/26 season in Scotland is going to look like after the SPFL released key dates about the new season.
From the Premiership dates to the League Cup final being played on December 14, some details have been released and more information will be confirmed at the end of the season.
But the SPFL also stated that there will be no winter break for the 2025/26 campaign and they explained why in a small statement.
”The second season of the expanded UEFA club competitions – the league phase of the Champions League and Europa League again runs until the end of January – exerts additional pressure on the domestic calendar,” stated the SPFL.
“As was the case for 2024/25, there will be no scheduled Premiership winter break in season 2025/26.”
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