Buckies Yuletide Dip

Ask any parent about the spiralling cost of Christmas and they may well tell you how the 'Season of Goodwill' can quickly become a costly nightmare.

The hopes and dreams of our children can be delivered or dashed, their magical beliefs maintained or shattered by what this particular festive period yields.

The managerial guardians of our nation's football clubs, face similar pressures at this time, with the cost of a poor Christmas campaign often proving highly significant at the end of the season. The challenge for managers is therefore a simple one... to maintain or create positive momentum by quickly adding up to 12 points to the season's tally.

With Footballs' governing bodies and major stakeholders far more interested in Setanta than Santa, fans are guaranteed a veritable feast of matches, with helpings large and served up back to back. For individual players, teams and squads the disruption to regular routine provides the sternest of physical and mental challenges which some will pass and others not.

So what presents will our respective clubs give us? Will Ipswich continue to dominate at home and capitulate away? Will 'Glen's Little Helpers' bring joy to Canary hearts by taking home points from each of their games...or continue to under-perform and leave Norwich rooted firmly to the foot of the Championship tree?

A fleeting glance at the fixture list and Championship table, won't necessarily provide the answers. The conditions which surround these games are vastly different to those experienced at other times during the season. Players are required to seize several proverbial days in quick-fire succession, if promotion challenges are to be maintained or relegation battles won. For managers and fans alike, it is a time to hope upon hope, that this most pivotal point of the season will be negotiated in a way, which sets up the remainder as a time for satisfaction and fulfilment.

Once again, it is time to start thinking very seriously about Christmas.

Ipswich V Burnley Dec 22nd

Leicester V Ipswich Dec 26th

Coventry V IpswichDec 29th

Ipswich V West BromJan 1st

Scunthorpe V Norwich 22nd Dec

Norwich V Charlton26th Dec

Norwich V Wolves29th Dec

Crystal P V Norwich1st Jan

Buckies Yuletide Dip is sponsored by Dettol

Author: Buckie