Mark Devlin 
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images Sport
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has praised the governing bodies of Scottish football for reintroducing the winter break.
The Hoops endured a tough December schedule which saw them go unbeaten in all nine games while keeping four clean sheets domestically.
And Rodgers has praised the reintroduction of the winter break which gave his side time to recover after a gruelling festive month in Dubai.
Speaking to the Evening Times, Rodgers said:
My first point of call is to say well done to the governing bodies of Scotland.
I have obviously worked in England a lot of my days and down there coaches and managers are crying out for a winter break and this is my first experience of it up here and they should be applauded for it.
Firstly your supporters benefit from it. We had the traditions of the Christmas Eve game and the New Year’s Eve game but the game is about supporters and players and if you think of supporters, January is a very tough month, you get paid late.
We had nine games in December and everyone wants to follow their team. And for supporters to have that little respite, not having to worry about taking family to games, is important as well.
For players, it is vitally important that they get to press the reset button, it might only be 10 days or so because they are obviously working the course of the period and we had the good fortune to go to Dubai to work very hard and get some recovery in the sun and I see the benefits.
The old Scottish Premier League had a winter break set-up from the 1998/99 season until 2002/03 and the format was reintroduced this season.
The two-week break allows clubs from the top-tier to recover after the first half of the season, and the Parkhead club took advantage of the set-up and headed for Dubai for a training camp in the warm weather.
After their three-week absence, Rodgers’ team are back in action this Sunday at 3pm in the Scottish Cup fourth round, and will play League One side Albion Rovers at the Excelsior stadium in Airdrie.
