Scottish clubs leave the English in icy isolation

It's that time of year when travel companies stage a takeover of television advertising. It came a bit too late to influence the Scottish Premier League. Just like the rest of Europe, Scotland's top footballers are taking a winter break. Most could not wait to clock off, some had to be dragged, screaming and kicking.

Any neutral at Tynecastle Stadium last Thursday would have thought Hearts and Hibernian were incapable of putting the ball down. The Edinburgh rivals squeezed in three goals in stoppage time, as Hearts wiped out a two-goal deficit to draw 4-4.

It was the most thrilling derby the city has seen in decades, and some might feel that any business that shuts its doors for four weeks after giving the public just what it clamours for is committing commercial suicide. However, even the Hearts manager, Craig Levein, could not wait for the shutdown. This time next week, he will collect his players from a week's holiday with their families and head to a training camp in Portugal. "It helps the players recharge their batteries," said Levein.

There is unanimous managerial agreement across the SPL for that theory, even among those who are aiming for the biggest prize. Alex McLeish admitted after Rangers saw off Dundee 3-1 on Thursday to stay top that his team had "limped to the winter break". His rival for the title, Martin O'Neill, watched a jaded Celtic side draw 1-1 away to Aberdeen and concede that the break "could not come quick enough".

Both clubs will enjoy the sun on their backs while Scotland shivers in early January. Rangers are off to Dubai, while O'Neill has taken Celtic back to the Florida base they used two years ago. Six of the SPL's clubs are flying away, with Aberdeen in the Algarve, where they play Ajax, and Dundee in Trinidad.

That is far fewer than the 11 who made use of the winter shutdown two years ago. Budgets have been trimmed since then – one of the stay-at-homes, Motherwell, are in financial administration – but the absence of a break last season, to complete the campaign before the World Cup finals, has only made it grow fonder in managers' hearts.

For O'Neill, who had spent his career in England – the only country in Europe not to embrace a shutdown – that hiatus in 2000-01 contributed to Celtic's Treble success.

"The break was delightful and the players came back refreshed. Personally, I never switch off and it was strange after so many years in England. But now I would prefer to have one. We started early this season, because we had Champions' League qualifiers, but there was a relatively short time for a break in the summer after the World Cup.

"This way, the players get the chance to spend a week with the families and then we can go off somewhere sunny and train. But the idea that the whole club can take a break is great. Even the girls in the office are looking forward to it. It gives everyone a rest from the game, including the fans, and then we are back at the end of January and we can enjoy the rest of the season."

Groundsmen and physiotherapists are happier. Pitches and injuries are given a chance to heal they never had until the SPL inaugurated the break in 1998, while fans' finances are eased after those December excess. No wonder Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger are eager to embrace the concept, but the Premiership remain unwilling.