Brady urges football authorities to rethink schedule after 'ridiculous' increase in injuries

Barely a week has gone by over the last two and a half seasons where Brady has not bemoaned injuries, and once again his squad is decimated by a whole range of ailments, from knee issues to torn hamstrings to broken bones.

But Brady is not the only manager to express frustration with the current schedule and it was only last week when Blackpool boss Steve Bruce echoed similar sentiments.

“The simple facts are, we play far too many games,” said Bruce. “We’re asking a human being to do 12.5km every three days, with a competitive nature to the sprints. It’s incredible that everything has improved apart from injuries.”

Even at the top of the game, the likes of Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola have questioned the sustainability of forcing players to effectively play all year round.

But it is more the balance of the schedule that Brady believes is causing problems. Cobblers played only three times in September but had seven games in October and have another seven in both November and December.

"In my opinion, I don't think the balance has been right again this season,” said Brady. “I think it can be done better and it could be more spread out. A lot of clubs have injuries at the moment but I don't think anyone has as many as us.

"I spoke to the EFL about it and I've also spoken to the LMA (League Managers Association) a couple of times and they actually rung me and asked for my opinion on it because they've picked up on the injuries we've had.

"Injuries have again gone up across the board this season and the percentages have gone up a ridiculous amount. That in itself needs looking into and we need more help in terms of spreading the fixtures.

"Some months you can have eight games and then another month you just have four and I don't think that makes sense so it's something we have to look at it."

Eighteen months ago, following their injury-hit, promotion-winning League Two season, Cobblers made some tweaks behind the scenes and bolstered their medical department with the the addition of a second physio. Those changes came on the back of a detailed, in-house review looking into why the club suffered so many injuries and how to prevent it happening again.

Despite their best efforts, though, the injury crisis this season is as worse as ever. Up to 15 players are out or doubtful for this weekend’s game against Cambridge United, including Jack Sowerby, who was the latest to go down when dislocating his knee after just 10 minutes against Blackpool.

"If Jack needs an operation, that would be the 10th operation this season,” continued Brady. “I think that's hugely unlucky. Tom's (Eaves) facial injury is another one. That's just bad luck.

"Ninety per cent of our injuries have been in-game and it's not as if Jack had been over-exerted before his injury in the last few weeks so you can't say it's just because of the schedule. It's a combination of the schedule and the fact that the game now is a lot quicker with the multi-ball system and all of the extra stoppage-time.

"On Saturday, we played eight minutes of stoppage-time in the first half and then five minutes were added at the end but we played two extra so in total that's 15 minutes. If you spread that across three games, you’re playing an extra 45 minutes of football.

"You're ending up playing an extra eight or nine games a season than you were a few years ago. That's got a lot to do with it in my opinion.”