Newcastle v Spurs friendly in Australia ‘madness’

The Premier League season is over… at least that’s what you might think.

There is, of course, the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Manchester City at Wembley to come on Saturday.

But two other English top-flight sides will also be in action again this week.

Tottenham and Newcastle have flown all the way to Australia for an end-of-season friendly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Newcastle will also play a second match against an A-League All Star side on Friday.

Both clubs have named strong squads for the trip with Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak among those in the Newcastle squad.

James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Heung-Min Son are all in the Tottenham party.

Ex-England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer was left baffled by the timing of the matches.

“Can you imagine if you’re a player who is playing in either the Copa America or Euro 2024 having to do that? Madness. Crazy,” Shearer told Match Of The Day.

“I wouldn’t be happy at all. It’s crazy for Newcastle to go and play Spurs there on Wednesday night and then another game.”

The European Championships in Germany start on 14 June with the Copa America in the United States getting under way six days later.

The decision to go ahead with the matches comes despite concerns from within the game about the increasing workload being faced by players.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said last month the football calendar is “getting to a tipping point” with the amount of matches teams are being asked to play.

The Champions League will expand to 36 teams next season and the group stage will be replaced by a league format, resulting in teams playing an extra two matches.

The Club World Cup, which is currently held annually and features seven teams from six confederations, will become a 32-team tournament to be held every four years.

Last month the Football Association scrapped FA Cup replays from the first round onwards due to the increase in matches.

A report last year by the players’ union Fifpro said the game needs to do more to protect players against “dangerous levels of fixture congestion”.

“The reforms of the two major tournaments will ultimately increase the number of games played by top players who could conceivably feature in both,” the Fifpro said.

“This poses a threat to the wellbeing of players who are already pushed to their limit with the current international match calendar.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe described the tour to Australia as a “brilliant opportunity” to connect with the club’s fanbase.

“I think it’s important we grow the name of Newcastle at every opportunity we get,” Howe explained.

“You are sort of cocooned in England. You understand there is a wider support base, but if you are not exposed it then it’s difficult to understand it.”

Howe acknowledged that he will have to “rotate” his players and “give everyone some minutes” after such a long flight to Australia.

“That is difficult if you are just going on holiday, let alone playing so soon after landing. That will be the trickiest thing for us,” he added.

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said the “exposure and revenue” is a key element of the trip but acknowledged had they been in Europe this season he would have blocked it.

“If we had a bigger game schedule I probably would have said ‘no’ to it and I don’t think the club would have expected us to go,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s ideal but I think each situation is unique. I had a discussion with the playing group pretty early on about it and they understood why we are doing it.”

Meanwhile, Tottenham will head to South Korea as part of their pre-season tour of Asia this summer including a match against Bayern Munich, and potentially former skipper Harry Kane, in Seoul on 3 August.

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