Mixed response to winter plans for 2022 World Cup

Wolves legend and former England World Cup striker Steve Bull called on clubs to embrace the proposed move to November and December.

But Albion director Richard Garlick insisted there were "endless" issues to address for European clubs if FIFA approves the recommendation from its task force to move the tournament to avoid the heat of the Qatari summer.

Garlick, Albion's director of football administration, said there were "endless ramifications ".

He said: "What happens in the Football League? Does the Championship stop? Do they stop and their non-affected rivals continue and they then pick it up 10 games behind everybody?

"The media negotiations will also be interesting. I can't imagine the rights broadcasters being happy to see such a chunk taken out of the season.

"What happens to the players who remain behind? Do they train and not play for six weeks?

"I could go on like this ad infinitum and there's clearly going to be a great deal of discussion. But I think you can tell by everyone's reaction what the mood is like within the English game."

Bull, who represented England at the 1990 World Cup, said: "It will put our clubs in limbo because it looks like the Premier League will have to be cancelled for a month.

"But you can't do anything about it – it's like when Sky took over and changed all the kick off times from 3pm on a Saturday to all different times during the week.

"It's only a minor upset for the players who are away.

"It's a one-off so it's not like it's something we'll have to get used to every year."

Bully has a novel idea for the Premier League players not involved at the winter World Cup.

"For me, I'd organise a minor league and put a mini competition on because as a player, there's nothing worse than not playing," he added.

The proposal drew strong criticism from Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore while Football Association chairman Greg Dyke warned it will be tough to cope with the disruption to the football calendar after a FIFA task force recommended the 2022 World Cup be played in November/December.

Scudamore said: "It is clear that the views of the European leagues, along with the numerous other competitions globally that will be negatively affected, have not been given serious consideration throughout this process.

"The prevailing view from the leagues has been that displacing the 2022 World Cup significantly from the original summer dates disproportionately impacts the sporting integrity of our competitions.

"Our particular concern is that a FIFA World Cup that finishes late in December could result in damaging one of the English game's great traditions and attractions, with the removal of the entire Premier League, Football League and FA Cup Christmas and New Year fixture programme that season."

Dyke said: "The best option would be to not hold it in Qatar, but we are now beyond that so November/December would seem to be the best of the bad options. It will clearly disrupt the whole football calendar as it means club football stopping at the end of October.

"You might be able to keep the disruption to one season if you start earlier and end later but it's going to be tough – and unnecessary because we would not be doing this if FIFA had done their work properly."

Asked about the final being held as late as December 23, Dyke added: "We will have to wait to hear the detail but we will try to protect all the traditional Christmas dates."

"We were of the view that November/December would be better than January/February - but that wouldn't be the case for some European countries who have a winter break in January."

FIFA's technical report into the bidding countries for the 2022 World Cup had warned of the dangers of playing in the heat of the summer, but that did not prevent the executive committee voting for the Middle Eastern country.

Dyke said: "This is something FIFA brought on itself by not reading the report of the safety inspector. It tells you the technical assessment was not being used as the basis for the decision."