Chronicle Editor
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are aiming to get back into training on May 9.
Managers throughout the country have been in touch with their ‘holidaying’ players to tell them of the new plans.
Eddie Howe rang round his Bournemouth players to alert them when they are due to go back in to start work.
The Cherries badly want to get up and running to pull clear of the drop zone in the closing games.
Sheffield United have adjusted their proposed date of a May 4 re-boot and will also now get together on May 9 too.
Sean Dyche’s Burnley are also due back in at the same time as they prepare to see out the campaign and even aim for Europe.
West Ham are also working on the same timetable and Crystal Palace are expecting to join them.
Other clubs are keeping their plans under wraps, but most think that is the best and first available date to begin preparations.
As things stand, the Premier League is suspended indefinitely as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the UK.
That postponement will be lifted depending on government advice and the spread of the virus — with Premier League bosses saying football will only resume when ‘safe to do so’.
Right now we remain in lockdown measures across the UK, which will be reviewed on May 7.
But the Premier League have reportedly been given a ‘tentative’ green light to resume in June behind closed doors despite the ongoing crisis.
A source close to one player told SunSport: “The players are being told that mid-June is the time to expect football to kick off again.
“And to aim for training to start again in the middle of May – that should give enough time.”
The Premier League is expected to return solely as a ‘TV event’, with it suggested that Wembley could be used to stage up to FOUR games a day to make it happen.
Top-flight clubs met on April 17 for a two-hour meeting, with the best-case scenario discussed seeing the first behind-closed-doors games take place on Monday June 8. — AFP.
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