Tony Mowbray believes it will feel like a 'big occasion' when Sunderland fans return to the Stadium of Light after a shortened World Cup break in early December. The Championship and Premier League will take a mid-season hiatus to accommodate the bulk of the winter tournament in Qatar, with four weeks left blank on the domestic fixture calendar between the round of games on November 11 and the resumption of the campaign on December 10.
But Sunderland have this week confirmed that their home game against Millwall, which was postponed earlier this month when the entire EFL programme was shelved in the wake of the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has been rescheduled for Saturday, December 3. Both clubs had to agree to the move and the EFL had to give their permission to the move, but the benefit for Sunderland and Millwall is that it will no longer need to be squeezed into the packed programme in the latter half of the season.
"It was proposed to me and I liked the idea - let's get the game played and out of the way," said Mowbray. "Why wouldn't we want to play on a Saturday in front of a full stadium at the Stadium of Light, rather than a Wednesday night in February where we are fitting Millwall in as a third midweek game on the bounce?
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"Let's get it played and it will be a big occasion really because at that point we'll have had no football for three weeks. Millwall were happy to play it, the EFL were happy to do it, so here we are."
The scheduled four-week break in the season has left clubs with a gap to fill, with some looking at travelling for warm-weather training camps in what would effectively become a mini pre-season, while others consider giving players some time off before returning to play friendlies before the campaign resumes. Mowbray thinks a four-week pause could be slightly too long, and is happy to pare it back to three weeks.
He said: "Potentially [it could be too long a break]. I think it's the right thing to do [to play the Millwall game].
"Over the three weeks, during the last ten days or so we will be training and preparing ready to go again. Anybody who loves football should be excited because it's the World Cup - you can clear your calendar and sit and watch football every night, on a winter's night, dark room, get the fire on, have a cup of tea, and life couldn't be better.
"But I think a three-week break instead of four weeks is fine. Millwall were happy, we're happy. The fans will want to get to live matches and hopefully we can find another opportunity at home for a positive performance and a good result to keep the points tally ticking along."
Sunderland's game against the Lions will kick-off at 12.30pm on December 3, but the game will not be shown on Sky TV - the early kick-off is to avoid a clash with the World Cup round of 16 game at 3pm on that day, which could potentially involve England depending on how they fare in the group stage of the tournament.
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