Boss Paul Jewell has hit out at the football authorities for organising international friendlies during the first week of the season when Premier League clubs are looking ahead to their season opener and Football League sides are engaged in Carling Cup action. The Blues manager says no one in football is interested in playing games such as England’s [now postponed] Wednesday friendly with Holland at this time of the year.

Jewell said: “It’s ridiculous. For Premier League teams it’s a big week - the first game of the season.

"Everyone’s getting excited, everyone’s talking about the start of the new Premier League, the Championship’s just bubbling up and suddenly Premier League clubs will have about five or six players training. It’s ridiculous.

“But you only have to see some of the decisions which are made throughout football and the way football governing bodies are run, so nothing surprises you.

“You wonder whose interest is at heart. Who wants to play an international game when we’ve got cup games during the week and a week before the Premier League season?

“There won’t be one manager in the country who will agree with what’s going on," he added. "But why ask the managers when you’re going to make a football decision?”

The Blues boss says pretty much everyone in football will agree: “You ask supporters, any supporters in the Premier League, what they’re looking forward to this week.

“None of them will say England against Holland. Everyone will say the weekend when the Premier League starts.

“That tells you how it is, and just as important as that, the players as well. They want to play for their countries but their minds are on the Premier League.

“Is there ever a good time to play a friendly? I don’t know, but certainly it’s not just before the season starts or just after the season starts. It’s ridiculous, as I’ve said.”

Photo: Action Images

blueoff added 08:26 - Aug 9 Have to agree with you there PJ
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Keaneish added 08:36 - Aug 9 Bang on! A good night tonight and Priskin could have revived his town career. Sadly he has to go and sit on a bench somewhere so we're left with a couple of similar type strikers in Scotland and Ellington for the game too.
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bluelady added 08:41 - Aug 9 Keanish did you forget chopra!!!
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olimar added 08:49 - Aug 9 I think PJ makes the mistake of mentioning "England" or "The Premier League", but that totally misses the point. The international break is organised by Fifa for ALL their member countries, not just those playing in Europe. Yeah, England might find it really inconvenient, but what about many other areas of the world where their leagues havent kicked off, or are midway through? What about the other countries who dont have a major league and for whom the international fixtures are the biggest football fixtures in their country every year? Aside from that, nobody forces the English FA to organise an international friendly. They could just have a training camp for a week instead. That would probably be pretty beneficial to the manager and would definitely be better received by the clubs aswell, as their players wont be risked in matches. But the FA need to pay for Wembley....

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TJS added 08:50 - Aug 9 Sorry can't agree. Practically every other country in the world is also playing tonight and I doubt they are all whinging about like we always seem to be.
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ITFC4daprem added 08:55 - Aug 9 Bad timming definatley are the ROI playing tonight as I thought Murray might be in there squad
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blueblood66 added 09:07 - Aug 9 well said PJ, bang on the money
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randomblue added 09:10 - Aug 9 Spot on PJ! What is the need for it? Given the current situation in London it would be nuts to take police away from controlling the streets in order to police a pointless international that nobody cares about!
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Nazemariner added 09:12 - Aug 9 Who gives a to$$ about the Premier League anyhow. I'll tell you who....Children and Africans that's who. .
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bontcho added 09:22 - Aug 9 Aren't international dates set first? If the Championship, Premier League etc don't like it they should move.
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Premiertown added 09:23 - Aug 9 Would be a good excuse for the football loonies to riot at Wembley now, cancel today.
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LancsBlue added 09:53 - Aug 9 Olimar, you are spot on. This is an INTERNATIONAL week. Games are happening all over the world. So its inconvenient for the Premier League, well tough. Why is this country so arrogant as to think that everything should revolve around us? No wonder we are not liked and only got one vote to host the World Cup. As others have said, the FA were not forced to stage a match and the Premier League did not have to start their campaign 3 days after this already scheduled international week. Surely PJ should be questioning the Premier League's judgement. When he says "no-one is interested in playing these matches at this time of year" he missed out the words "in England". International weeks are spread throughout the footballing calendar. Times more convenient to us probably are less so in other countries. England is not the centre of the universe.

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martleshamitfc added 09:57 - Aug 9 England game called off because of riots.
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ncharles added 10:24 - Aug 9 Yes the England game at Wembley has been called off and replaced with a training session.
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dubblue added 11:33 - Aug 9 Noticed that quite a few leagues kicked off last weekend - Germany, Holland and France. Obviously it is not ideal for championship and lower level clubs in England who have mid week cup games but the national federations don't really care! They have stadia such as Wembley and Aviva to pay for!
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Dale added 11:47 - Aug 9 "What are you looking forward to this week?" Germany - Brazil is the answer there.
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