Newcastle United coach Sam Allardyce, who is fighting to save his job at the struggling club, launched a furious assault on the fixture schedule on Sunday claiming players are treated worse than racehorses.
After his team were held to a 0-0 draw by Championship promotion contenders Stoke City in the FA Cup third round, Allardyce highlighted the long-term dangers facing players after another intensive program of festive soccer in England.
Casting aside concerns surrounding his own job at St. James' Park, Allardyce turned attention towards the pitfalls facing those forced to play as many as five competitive fixtures within the space of two weeks.
"This was our fifth game in two weeks and it's a ludicrous position to be in," he said. "It's making too many demands of professional athletes which is very, very dangerous. It would be nice to finish this spell and have a two week break but the game's bosses won't allow us that courtesy. The foreign players we have who are new to our league cannot understand it. They think we're crazy."
In fairness, neither Newcastle's cosseted players nor their lower league opponents appeared to be suffering from too much soccer as both sides set about serving up an entertaining, if goalless, draw in the last of the weekend's FA Cup third round ties.
This was no classic but it went some way toward epitomizing everything which is so good about the most famous knockout competition in the world.
Allardyce disagreed, but Stoke could and should have claimed a rare scalp in front of fans craving success after many years in the doldrums.
A sustained period of pressure midway through the second half seemed certain to decide the tie in the home team's favor, but Newcastle, to their credit, defended manfully for a manager who, according to some sources, has already "lost" his dressing room.
"We had some great opportunities and didn't take them," Stoke manager Tony Pulis said.
"That might be the bit of luck that Sam needs," he added as he reflected on how close home striker Jon Parkin had come to scoring from just a few meters out.
"Jon struck his first shot well but they got people in between their goal line and the ball. You have got to give Newcastle credit because they defended their box well," he said. "We've had some great opportunities but they got bodies in the way. I can't criticize Jon. He didn't blaze his chances wide and he turned the game for us."
The two teams will meet again on Jan. 16.
Allardyce made it clear he could do without another game with his contingent of African Nations Cup players absent, but it seems there will be no break for Newcastle's manager anytime soon.
In yesterday's other third round matches, Fulham and Derby County both did just enough to make it into the fourth round draw and avoid joining the four top-flight teams already knocked out of the Cup.
The Cottagers, second from bottom in the Premier League, twice had to come from behind at home to Bristol Rovers to salvage a 2-2 draw, while top flight basement side Derby, who had been 2-0 down, had to fight hard for a 2-2 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
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