Championship Hopes for May 25th Return to Training

The English Championship side is set to resume their league; they are targeting a league restart on the 6^th of June as it has already been discussed. The English Premier League is looking at resuming on the 12^th of June as well.

The Championship clubs which are a total of 24 clubs held a conference video call meeting on Wednesday, and they are looking at resuming training on the 25^th of May and then resume preparely on the 6^th of June.

League One and Two clubs will speak on Friday, when the prospect of ending the season seems certain to move closer. The plan for the Championship is still to complete the season, thereby avoiding avoid a potential legal minefield around promotion and relegation if the campaign ends early but the Premier League plays to a conclusion.

The Championship management have acquired a copy of the EFL’s ‘return to training’ draft protocols, which are based around current government guidelines for Covid-19 protocols. The requirements are similar to that of the English Premier League, the protocols includes:

• Clubs must appoint a specialist Covid-19 officer, and draw up an operational policy which players and staff must sign
• Twice weekly coronavirus antibody tests and temperature screening protocols for players and staff – a positive test means the training group self isolates for 14 days
• Players must arrive already changed and provide their own drinks
• No ‘manual therapy treatment’ such as massages. Only essential medical treatment allowed with minimum staffing and provision of personal protection equipment
• All tactical sessions and session planning that does not require physical presence should be done by tele/video conference
• Training will be phased, small groups through to full squad sessions. Each training group allocated one pitch, and maximum of five per group, plus three staff. Seventy-five minutes per training session. Thirty minutes’ gap between each training group session
• No tackling, opposed activities of any kind or congested training are allowed
• Clubs can provide takeaway food options for players