Former Ipswich Town and Bristol City player Cole Skuse believes condensed holiday fixture runs put too much on his Bury Town players and other semi-professional players
Bury Town manager Cole Skuse has voiced his concerns about the impact the condensed scheduling of holiday fixtures is having on semi-professional players.
The former Bristol City, Ipswich Town and Colchester United midfielder – who clocked up more than 600 appearances in the Football League from 2004-2023 – believes the replicated strain of the professional game that is put on non-league players is wrong and needs to be looked at.
The Blues will look to bounce back from Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Brightlingsea Regent in today’s local derby at Mildenhall Town (1pm) before Skuse takes his side into a third fixture in a week on Saturday when the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division title hopefuls host mid-table Concord Rangers (3pm).
And with their huge top-two clash with Suffolk rivals and now current leaders Felixstowe & Walton United, also at the Getaway Cars Stadium, to come on New Year’s Day on Wednesday (3pm) it will see a squad that does not go far over filling out the permitted 16 in a match day line-up when all fit, complete their fourth match in 12 days.
“We have it over the other bank holiday weekends and with the resources we’ve got, for non-league clubs to be churning out fixtures it’s really tough,” he said.
“I’m not trying to sound like a Premier League manager about the backlog of fixtures but they condense an awful lot into a real short period.
“I get that it’s brilliant for fans and also clubs because you can recoup some finance by people coming through the gate and coming to watch your games, but for the players themselves it’s an extremely big ask because we haven’t got squads of 20-25 players and it’s tough.”
Without the sports science data that drives the professional game to aid them, he said that managers like himself are left having to be guided by the players as to how much their bodies can handle in these condensed periods of games, and rely on them being truthful to avoid the risk of longer-term injuries that could also affect their day jobs.
Skuse said: “To go through a period like we’re going through we have to maximise the squads and you have to find a balance of rotation throughout your group but also keeping harmony; you don’t want to disrupt the group by making too many changes or making the changes for changes sake.
“You’re sort of driven by the players and their honesty and how they’re feeling and how they’re performing really.”
One player that did get a welcome rest on Saturday was standout goalkeeper Charlie Beckwith, who had a family commitment.
It meant 18-year-old Ollie Kellett-Green was promoted from the under-23s for his senior competitive debut.
And although he conceded twice, after Bury had taken an early lead via Cemal Ramadan’s 16th league goal of the season, he drew admirers for his display, notably from his manager.
“I thought he put in a really, really mature performance for such a young lad,” said Skuse, who described the performance itself as ‘a bad day’.
On facing a Mildenhall side who are two points above the bottom four after they played out a 1-1 draw at Sporting Bengal on Saturdy, he said: “Like when we played Newmarket recently (1-1 draw) it's a local derby which generates an interest that a lot of fixtures don't. You get good good crowds and a little bit of hostility which is brilliant for everyone. A lot of people involved enjoy it and as managers you enjoy it.
“Like I said, they’ll be a decent crowd and they'll be looking to pull away from the bottom part of the table so it'll be a great great game for them as well as us. It will be tough, there’s no doubt about that.”
Meanwhile, he said left-sided defender Joe Carroll could be involved for the first time since the 2-1 home win against Gorleston on September 21 on New Year’s Day’s meeting with Felixstowe, having been keen not to rush him back from a knee injury.
On that game, with the Seasiders having currently overtaken them by a point after the weekend’s results but with the Blues holding a game in hand, he said: “The date of that game is perfect really to to get a decent crowd to come and watch what will be a really entertaining game because they've got a really good group and they're a really well structured side that have picked up some unbelievable results.
“As good as we’ve been, we’ve not been able to quite get rid of them as they keep turning out results and have kept themselves in a real hunt for winning the league.”
