Does having no winter break have big impact on home nations?

Jose loves the festive schedule but do his players?

We get plenty of festive football whilst Europe goes on a siesta, does that hurt the product of football over here?

The festival football programme will lurch into full swing this weekend.

For a fortnight while most of us are over indulging in life's goodness, footballers will be busier than a pre-Christmas elf in Santa's workshop.

Football is entertainment and demand is huge over Christmas. Does the hectic programme do lasting damage to our players and does it hinder the Home Nations international hopes?

For the first time in a very long while, the Home Nations are all in with a sporting chance of making the European Championship Finals in 2016.

The extended tournament structure means that while England appear to have all but wrapped up their place in France 2016, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland are also still well positioned to join the party.

The issue of a winter break for football in England is often debated around this time of year.

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The major European leagues - Spain, Italy and Germany amongst them - will close down following this weekend's pre-Christmas fixtures and do not reappear until the New Year.

This gives an advantage to players on two fronts.

A two week hiatus offers respite, time to recharge and ready their bodies for the demands of the second half of the season.

They are also spared the demands of four games in nine days that many players in England will have to grind their way through.

Research has shown that playing with only a two-day recovery period has a negative impact on top footballers. The effects of cramming four games into a short space of time must also take its toll in the longer term.

Last summer we all witnessed England's lacklustre performances at the World Cup in Brazil, with Roy Hodgson's players boarding a flight home before the tournament had truly become serious.

While the players can never trot out such an excuse, the experts have no trouble in questioning burnout as a motive for that failure.

With international football on its own winter shutdown, England top their Euro 2016 qualification group, Wales and Northern Ireland occupy second spots while Scotland and Republic of Ireland are third and fourth respectively in Group D.

Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are attempting to bridge qualification gaps dating into the last century while the Republic's Euro 2012 appearance was their first since the World Cup in 2002.

Would these abysmal records have improved if British football shut down for a winter break to allow players valuable rest time?

Of course, that is unquantifiable, but modern science will argue we are putting our players - and those that come to play on these shores - at a disadvantage by continuing with the traditional festive football onslaught.

At the end of the domestic season, June will find all the Home Nations -bar England - facing into crucial Euro 2016 qualifiers.

The chances are that fatigue, burnout and injury will play their part in deciding how these games play out.

The energy expended over the demands of Christmas and New Year football will always take its toll given time.

Regardless of whether we think there should be a winter break, it seems absurd to ramp things up at this time of year.

Three Premier League games in seven days is a step too far for our best players. More should be done to protect the talent in our game.

Could we not stagger two sets of fixtures - or perhaps even one - across the period from December 26th until New Year. Thus ensuring televisions companies are happy and we as fans get our festive fix while players do not suffer the footballing equivalent of working long hours and overtime.

With the Qatar World Cup potentially threatening winter football as we know it, it is time the football authorities got their act together and get in line with the rest of Europe.