Premier League Should Stop for Africa Cup of Nations
David Moyes (pictured with Ayegbeni Yakubu) is an inventive man. Not so long ago the Everton manager tried to delay Steven Pienaar’s departure for the Africa Cup of Nations by arguing that the rule forcing clubs to release players 14 days before a tournament actually meant 14 days before that players first game. Moyes lost that argument, but credit him for thinking on his feet.
Now the Scot is using his intellectual powers for good, suggesting that since losing so many African players has such an effect on so many Premier League clubs, and since the Africa Cup of Nations will not moving to summer, maybe the smart thing would be for the Premier League to shut down while the tournament is on.
“You cannot win. But maybe now we have to consider if we close the Premier League season down during the African Nations Cup,” said Moyes.
“That would be the correct respect for Africa and the players in it.
“If we want to bring players in from that part of the world we should be rightly allowed to do so, which we are, but it is not a fair playing field if you cannot field your best team.”
Very encouraging to (finally) hear a Premier League manager talking about the Africa Cup of Nations in terms of respect instead of inconvenience. It’s also true that the quality of African talent means the Premier League is severely reduced as a spectacle while the Africa Cup of Nation is on. Chelsea are definitely less interesting to watch without Michael Essien and Didier Drogba. There’s long been talk of a winter break in England to prevent players getting exhausted, so maybe the two could coincide. English clubs could take a winter break both for their own good, for the good of the Premier League as a competition and for the good of the Africa Cup of Nations.
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Comments
By Laurie | January 30th, 2008 at 3:10 pm 
You have no idea how much I love the fact that African organizers continue to give the figurative finger to professional Euroopean football with their scheduling of ACN.
Take that, colonial legacy!! 
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United States
By Christian | January 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm Ridiculous. The world does not revolve around the BPL.
Football is a global game, and Africa can hold its competition when they want to, not because the so-called superpowers of Old Europe deem acceptable.
A bigger issue is when can we get the damn games on television!
By Erinti | January 30th, 2008 at 10:40 pm Er, I read what Moyes is saying as “how can we deal with the effects of the ACN on our league in a manner beneficial to all parties?”, not “the ACN should be held when we say they can hold it”. (For the latter, just look at all the cockmonkeys clamoring for the tournament to be moved to July.)
By Luis | January 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm Why don’t premiership clubs stop buying African players? Look elsewhere if their cup is so bothersome, but don’t keep on buying them if you know you’re gonna have the same problem every two years.
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By Inara | January 31st, 2008 at 12:36 am Moyes will probably be fired next week for daring to admit that the EPL might be wrong about some things.
Posted from United States
By Medionsaturn | January 31st, 2008 at 8:18 am I believe that this is the track to solving the problem for all parties, although I don’t like how selfish it came across in my opinion, it shouldn’t be limited to the English Premier League. Just look at the French Leagues, they’re losing far more players to African Cup of Nations than the English Premiership is. I think that the Winter break idea should co-incide with the African Cup of Nations, although it should happen every year, in most european leagues to prevent the player from getting too fatigued, which they do around new year(insert Christmas dinner joke here).
Also, it would be ridiculous to not buy African players simply because of a tournament, just look at the difference between Portsmouth earlier in the year and now, without Muntari. He certainly makes a difference, and so do the likes of Yakubu, Yobo and Pienaar at Everton. I’d make a point of Chelsea aswell, but with their resources they don’t have much trouble(although they did lack firepower with the likes of Drogba).
Football teams know fully well what they’re getting into when they buy African talent.
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