CHRISTMAS might be the time of year to drink and be merry but, with games coming thick and fast, none of our players will be tasting alcohol over the next ten days.

There's a time and a place for drinking and it will not be now with three matches in a week.

We also need to be careful with our diets although the players will be having Christmas Day off this year.

Sometimes it is necessary to train on December 25 and I have done it in the past but there's people who would have to travel that will also have played on Sunday.

I think basically the decision boils down to where the Boxing Day fixture falls and, as it's here, the players will be able to rest and spend Christmas Day with their families.

That also keeps morale up as it's a difficult time for footballers because we will be in full training when everybody else is enjoying themselves.

This season is strange, however, in that we have got no game on New Year's Eve or during the first weekend of January.

So, whereas normally we would be in bed for 10pm, this year we might be able to see in the New Year but we will be back in training on January 1. At least the roads will be clear.

Footballers' families can find it very difficult over Christmas especially when you have your Christmas dinner and you are sat there drinking water and then go off to bed while they are still celebrating.

They find it hard but I have been at it for 13 years so it's part and parcel of the game and something you accept as footballers.

There's also a lot of functions to attend at this time of the year, including visits to the hospital and hospice.

The pleasing thing about these visits is that you only have to spend a minute with some young children to make their Christmas.

You have to take the plusses with the minuses as footballers and know that you will have a big break in the summer.

Of course, the recurring argument in the game at this time of the year in is whether we should have a winter break or not.

I think it's a difficult one because the trouble is the way the bad weather falls in this country.

If we brought in the winter break over the Christmas period, the New Year and the first week in January then you might also lose a game later in January and that could leave you playing catch-up at the end of the season which I think is what happened when they tried it in Scotland.

There is also the financial consideration that games over the festive spell attract big crowds.

We will have more or less a full house against Hull City and, for the safeguarding of the club, we need those matches.

First of all, we have got Kidderminster and they have picked up since Jan Molby went back there.

It will be a test for us but we will be back at home where we fancy our chances against anybody and if we perform like we did at Torquay I am sure we will get the right result.

Hull provides us with another derby and anything can happen on the day but we have got to make sure we are on top of our game.

When you look at the size of their squad in comparison to the rest of the league it is bigger and filled with quality.

Then we go to Rochdale two days later and it would be nice to put one over on them as they are still the only team to beat us at home in the league.

It will really be a case of who gets rested up the quickest and how difficult your Boxing Day game has been because it comes so quickly after it.

How quickly your team recovers against their's will have a great bearing on it, but it's not too far to travel and hopefully their pitch is in good condition.

Updated: 11:57 Thursday, December 18, 2003