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Yet another new date for Premier League action to resume is emerging with the restart of English top flight football expected to be put back for a further week.
The game’s authorities had planned for a return on the weekend of June 12 for the 20 Premier League clubs – including Everton and Liverpool who would face each other in the Merseyside Derby first up if fixtures are played in the same order as they were scheduled before the coronavirus-induced shutdown.
But they now appear to be heading for a week later on June 19 reports the Daily Telegraph.
The further delay comes after players and managers expressed their concerns that major questions needed to be answered over the risks of a return to full-contact training and games being played again.
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During meetings on Wednesday both groups reportedly agreed to resume socially-distanced sessions next week and the 20 managers, including Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti, were presented with the safety protocol for a return to training before player representatives, in most cases captains, met with the Premier League in the afternoon.
The protocol covered just the ‘phase one’ part of the return which restricts players and coaches to small groups and will be approved at Monday’s Premier League meeting for a resumption on Tuesday.
The article states that there was a general consensus among most of the managers and players that they want to restart and are largely comfortable with phase one: groups of five players working with three coaches and all socially distanced.
It is understood only one manager questioned outright a return to training but by the end of the meeting he was satisfied that phase one would be safe for players and coaches.
The players ’conference reached a broad consensus that the majority wanted to return to playing.
They recognized that the risk from COVID-19 for their age profile was very low and that football could provide a very safe environment – although there were some who urged greater caution.
But there remains widespread unease over what happens after that and whether or not managers and their squads are being given enough preparation time ahead of the originally proposed June 12 restart, so the Premier League is listening to those concerns and is prepared to push back the resumption by at least a week.
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