Rotherham United skipper Sean Morrison calls for change after Christmas frenzy

Sean Morrison says the intense programme favours the bigger clubs with larger squads at their disposal and persecutes smaller sides like Rotherham who don't have the same strength in depth.

Over the Christmas holiday the injury-hit Millers had to negotiate Championship matches on December 23rd at Leicester City, on December 26th at home to Middlesbrough, at home to Sunderland three days later and on New Year's Day at Blackburn Rovers.

“The Boxing Day game is fine,” said the skipper who played every minute of every game and was in superb form. "It's the middle one, the 29th, that is the issue. I just don't think there's any need for it.

“Play on the 26th and New Year's Day, that's great. But the 29th is a problem, especially for teams with smaller squads who can't rotate players. It makes things impossible. Four games in ten days is outrageous.

“Look at sides like Leicester and Leeds United, I'm sure they rotated over Christmas.”

Player welfare is also an issue, with injuries far more likely to occur when there is so little recovery time between matches.

“The days between the Boxing Day game and the one on the 29th, I was feeling a little bit sore,” Morrison said.

“Without the physios I wouldn't have been able to play all those games in such a short period. They've looked after me and gave me the best opportunity to be out there.”

After losing at leaders Leicester, the drop-zone Millers did well to beat Boro and then record draws with Sunderland and Rovers to breathe new life into their survival fight.

“We had the same starting 11 for three games in a row before making a couple of changes at Blackburn,” Morrison said. “We now go Saturday to Saturday for a little while. Just throw the game on the 29th into a Tuesday in January.”