The English Premier League season will have its earliest start since the 1999-2000 season, and Chelsea FC manager Jos Mourinho has joined old foe ArsA?ne Wenger in condemning the schedule.
Chelsea FC manager Jos Mourinho was unequivocal in his condemnation of the early start to the Premier League season ahead of his team’s opening fixture against Swansea City on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
The Portuguese insisted that a ‘proper holiday’ and a ‘proper pre-season’ would be beneficial for everybody, an opinion echoed by Arsenal FC manager Ars ne Wenger, who described the scheduling of the start of the 2015-2016 English season as ‘completely unexplainable’.
Mourinho not happy with early start to the season
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday evening, the Chelsea FC manager reflected on a short pre-season for the Blues and offered a solution as to what the Premier League authorities could have done instead to finish the season early ahead of the European Championships in the summer of 2016.
“It could start a week later, especially because the first four fixtures are one per week,” Mourinho is quoted as saying by the official website. “During the season we have to play three times a week almost every week, so I dona t think it would be a problem to start one week later and then one of these weeks have two fixtures.
“It would be better for everybody to have a proper holiday and a proper pre-season. Some did, some didna t. Ita s a choice you have to make but the ideal thing for the players, who have to play so many matches during the season, is to have proper holidays and a proper pre-season.”
The former Real Madrid manager has been disgruntled in the past by the fixture scheduling, and has also been a long-time critic of the Premier League’s refusal to re-schedule fixtures to help its top teams in the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea FC manager circumspect in response to question regarding what a ‘successful season’ would be for Blues
Mourinho refused to specify what a successful season would look like for the Blues, insisting that the goal was primarily to be competing with the possibility of winning something come March next year.
Speaking in his press-conference, Mourinho is quoted by the Chelsea FC website as saying: “You can have a good season and somebody is better than you. I dona t consider that a failure. A bad season is if you dona t perform, if you are so bad that in October you are 15 points behind the leaders and you arrive in March with no chance of winning anything.
“Another thing is to progress in the cups, to compete at the highest level in the championship, and then if somebody is a little bit better – a couple of points or one goal in a knockout game – then I dona t think ita s a failure, but credit to the others.
“Leta s try to be a good team, and leta s try to be here in March and April speaking to you about the possibility of winning something.”
Given how difficult it has proved of late to retain the Premier League crown, perhaps it was a smart move by Mourinho, who begins the defence of his title on Saturday evening against Gary Monk’s Swansea City side.
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