Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies has revealed he would like to see the English season shutdown in mid-winter.

Davies experienced a winter break during his time in charge of Motherwell in his native Scotland and would advocate a similar initiative south of the border.

The Reds are preparing for two games in the space of three days, starting with their Boxing Day date with Watford at Vicarage Road (kick-off 12noon).

That will be followed by Monday's City Ground encounter with Coventry (kick-off 3pm) but Davies would rather have the opportunity to give his players a festive break.

"I've said for a long time that, having experienced a winter shutdown in the past, then there's no doubt that for me that would always be the best option," he revealed.

"It's a difficult period not only because there's so many games in so many days but there's treacherous weather conditions and it's difficult for people to travel to games.

"For me, it's a no brainer - having experienced a winter shutdown it was excellent and I'd always put in a vote in for that.

"But we've got what we've got and we've just got to get on with it.

"We've got two games in three days. We know we've got to train over that period as well and we know we've got to be very professional in terms of preparing properly for two difficult games."

The Reds took their unbeaten run to 14 matches in the Championship with a comfortable 3-0 win over Preston last weekend.

But they will head to Vicarage Road with the memory of their 4-2 home defeat at the hands of Watford in August still very much fresh in their minds.

Davies added: "I don't think we've got a point to prove. We want to continue with the level of performance we've been showing for a long period of time now.

"The most important thing is that we go down there and give a good account of ourselves."