Claridge is a pundit for The Football League Show and Football Focus

The cold snap that decimated last weekend's football programme has led to calls for a winter break to be introduced in England.

I take a look at whether it would be the right move for Football League clubs and if it could work given our unpredictable weather.

I also give my views on why Reading winger Jobi McAnuff is playing in the Championship rather than the Premier League, examine the investment made by Millwall's owners and consider whether Alan Irvine and Mark Yates are the right choice as new managers by Sheffield Wednesday and Cheltenham.

If you have a question for me, you can submit it through Twitter at http://twitter.com/AskClaridge or use the form on the top right of the page.

What are your thoughts on a winter break and football played through the summer?
Superdow on Twitter

There are two reasons why, outside the Premier League, you could not have a winter break.

The first is finances - half these clubs survive on their gate revenue, and they are hit badly enough if they are forced to postpone games.

The second is the British climate - with the weather we get, what if you pick the wrong two weeks to have off? If you get that wrong, you could be looking at a month without football and there are not many clubs outside the top flight that can do that.

This year we are having a harsh winter but the past 10 or so have been mild and we haven't had too many problems.

As far as the second part of the question goes, I don't think football should become a summer sport but we play for virtually 11 months of the year as it is.

If you are involved in the play-offs, you don't finish until the end of May and then you are back in training at the start of July.

Having tuned in to see Reading v Liverpool in the FA Cup last week, I decided I would keep an eye on one Jobi McAnuff, who I know has been highly rated at Championship level for a while but who I have never seen play live. Needless to say I was very impressed by his performance; he showed the pace, directness and crossing ability that I understand he has demonstrated for a while in the second tier. He seems to be one of those players who is successful in the Championship, but destined never to go further. My question is, why?
Sam Dingle England

McAnuff joined Reading from Watford in August 2009

There are quite a few players who do well in the Championship but never quite make it in the Premier League and that is probably down to lacking a little bit of consistency, self-belief or character.

A lot of the time it seems to be wingers, like McAnuff, actually. A lot is asked of them and sometimes, when they don't play well with the ball, people don't appreciate them. It's more of an issue at a higher level when they might not get as much of the ball in the right areas and have to do more defending.

The mental aspect is key with that sort of player too. They are as close to goalkeepers as you can get in that aspect. A lot of them have to be loved and told that they are going to win you the game - they have to be right mentally as well as physically.

Jobi has been around for a while now and I like what I've seen of him but there are reasons why he is not a top-flight player. On his day, in the Championship, he is fantastic but those days probably don't come round often enough and he can also flit in and out of games.

Does he play like he did against Liverpool every week for Reading? Probably not. He needs to sort out that consistency before you can talk about him stepping up to the next level.

Hi Steve, I just wondered what you made of Alan Irvine's appointment at Sheffield Wednesday? I think it could be a good appointment for us, but opinion amongst fans is divided as they wanted a bigger name.
Steve Bedford, UK

It's worked out all right for Alan, having got the sack unfairly at Preston, to walk into a job at Hillsborough. It's an appointment that makes sense all round.

I disagree totally with someone getting a managerial job because they are a "big name" in any case - it doesn't mean they are going to be any good, no matter what you achieved as a player.

Alan kept Preston up in 2007/08 and then got them into the play-offs last season so he clearly knows his way around the Championship. Will he keep them up? Yes. He might not have much money to spend but I think he will have enough quality already in the squad to work with there.

What do you think of the appointment of Mark Yates as manager of my team Cheltenham Town?
Darren Ewen, England

He deserves his chance. It's certainly not a massive jump to the bottom-end of League Two from where he was with Kidderminster at the top-end of the Blue Square Premier; there is very little, if any, difference in standard.

Yates played for Cheltenham from 1999 to 2004

Mark had success with Cheltenham as a player and he will be familiar with that level even if he has never managed in the Football League before.

Cheltenham have been drifting since their former manager Martin Allen was put on gardening leave in October and they could not move forward until they sorted that situation out.

At the moment they are just above the relegation zone in League Two but I can't see them going down. If he can get them organised, like he did with his teams at Kidderminster, then they will stay up - there will be a few teams worse than them.

Why do you think, apart from the present economic climate, that no-one with any financial clout ever invests in Millwall. After all, we do have the fan base to be a very successful club.
Brian Brown, Australia

Brian can't be serious - take a look at Millwall's public accounts - they lost £5.2m in 2009, and more than £6m the year before. There is not another club in that division that have lost that - and there has been massive investment put into that club by its owners just to keep it going.

They have thrown plenty of money into signing players too so I'm a bit staggered at the suggestion that there hasn't been much investment. That doesn't make sense.

I love Millwall and enjoyed my time at the club but everyone who knows the club, being realistic, knows they are what they are, either in the top-end of League One or the bottom-end of the Championship. On a good day, in the Championship, they will get crowds of 15,000 but on a bad day, in League One, they will get less than 8,000.

Their supporters have got a bad reputation but if they get 15,000 in the New Den then it is like 50,000 anywhere else. There is a great atmosphere there and I had some cracking days and nights playing there.

So their fans are great but, with an average gate of around 10,000 this season, I think it's difficult for them to be doing much more leapfrogging between those two divisions. I think most people understand that too.

Steve Claridge is a BBC Football League pundit who played more than 800 matches for 15 clubs over the course of a 24-year playing career. He was talking to Chris Bevan.

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