Andrew Fifield  


HERE'S a quirk of the calendar which is either thoroughly depressing or wildly enjoyable, depending on your point of view.

This season's last competitive fixture, the final of the UEFA under-21 European Championship, takes place one day before the opening games of the 2009-10 campaign, in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. So it's official: a football-free summer lasts precisely 24 hours.

Now, this might just be a by-product of a feverishly nostalgic mind, but I could have sworn that, in the sun-dappled days of my youth, we had at least a few weeks to distance ourselves from the emotional maelstrom (or, as a Crystal Palace supporter, the rank dejection and numbing inferiority complex built up over 10 tortuous months) of a football season. Now, we just about have enough time for a cup of tea and a sit-down before being propelled back into the eye of the storm.

Perhaps we should be grateful. I seem to recall a couple of seasons ago, the new campaign actually started before the old one had finished, albeit with some Intertoto Cup affair which was only of interest to a handful of Lithuanian die-hards and some bookmakers in Malaysia.

Even so, it was easy to understand Arsene Wenger's complaints this week about Theo Walcott being made to turn out for England's turkey-shoots against Kazakhstan and Andorra and then fly to Sweden to link up with the under-21s.

Walcott's body is a work in progress. He has already been afflicted by the most severe of growing pains, having missed three months of last season (or is it this season?) with a dislocated shoulder, a problem that tends to dog players. He has also been troubled with knee problems.

The 20-year-old might claim to feel as fresh as a meadow full of daisies but he has already played 40 games this season: now he has another two-week long tournament to negotiate before being slated to make a return to pre-season training in the third week of July, giving him just over three weeks to prepare for the start of the Premier League campaign and a Champions League qualification play-off on 18 or 19 August.

It all seems to invite disaster, if not in the short-term, then certainly when next season reaches its business end. Wenger, acutely aware of his young side's costly habit of falling away just when they need to walk tall, will not be relishing the prospect of calling upon a jaded Walcott next Spring. For everyone's sakes - the supporters, as well as the players - it's time for a break.