It doesn’t get the same treatment as the likes of Valentine’s Day, Burns’ Night or even International Kiss a Ginger Day (which is harsh on us strawberry blonds).
But this Monday is apparently Blue Monday. It’s officially the most depressing day of the year. It’s right in the thick of winter, the festive part period is long in the past and everyone is tired, hungry and skint in the final brutal hours up to payday.
Perhaps it’s no wonder there’s so much moaning in Scottish football too. The grumbling has got louder by the day and most gaffers are griping about the same thing. The scheduling. Players are dropping like flies, left, right and centre, the quality of the games has gone out of the window and mistakes are getting made all over the shop.
Managers like Jim Goodwin and Stuart Kettlewell have branded the fixture list as crazy, Brendan Rodgers had talked about his Celtic side hitting a wall and Philippe Clement has sacked his sports science department.
It’s mayhem. And it’s hard not to feel sympathy. There’s been so many games of late it’s almost felt like overkill. No wonder fans have been grumpy as well.
It’s tough on everyone, particularly the clubs running tight squads.
And while Celtic and Rangers have the most resources, this schedule is hardly the best way for our remaining clubs in Europe to prepare for season-defining encounters.
Celtic face Young Boys on Wednesday and a win can take them into the knockout stages for the first time in more than a decade. Yet they will go into it on the back of nine games in 27 days.
Young Boys? They spent a month in winter shutdown and came back last night for their first game since December 15 against FC Winterthur, who might be based on that town in Game of Thrones.
Meanwhile Rangers are looking to get points from their remaining games to finish in the top eight of the Europa League. Okay, Man United have also been busy, but they’ve played seven games in 28 days – while Gers have played two more in a day less.
We’re flogging our teams when they should be getting wrapped in cotton wool. There’s no room on the calendar, the SPFL will repeatedly say. Well, let’s make room.
Here’s one for starters. The international breaks in September, October and November are a nuisance, but why not play the early knockout rounds of the League Cup on those dates and bump the semis and final into the New Year?
Hold on, folk will say, the likes of the Old Firm will be missing half their teams due to call ups. So what? The reason we have this problem is because of the importance we put on our League Cup. No other country has a third competition that’s given this level of credence.
In England, the Champions League clubs put out the kids in the EFL Cup up until the semi stage. If Celtic and Rangers want to be fresher for Europe when it matters, then make them play the B teams and kids in the early rounds.
If their academy and back up men can take care of part-timers or whatever, then those players shouldn’t be on the wage bill. And if they get bumped out, so be it. We’re talking about clubs who have won 119 and 118 trophies respectively. These two hoard silverware in Scotland.
It might be no bad thing to make them prioritise for once rather than having all the cake and ramming it down their throats. Our game is so skewed towards the big two that we’ve devalued stuff like doubles and trebles.
Up until Rodgers made it the norm, these things were hard to come by – and mainly because sometimes clubs had to pick between Europe and domestic. And because that’s gone, now they have no choice but to deal with both and the home programme has now severely hampered hopes in continental competition.
Success in Europe is good for all of Scottish football. Sacrifices need to be made to ensure our clubs do the business and in the future this time will be a Happy Monday.