COVID-19/Coronavirus, call it what you will has effectively put the world on hold and has decimated the sporting calendar as we know it. At first, football was curtailed until April 3, then put back further until the end of April. Now new particulars have emerged, per Football Insider, as to when fans of EFL clubs can expect to see their seasons kickstarted back to life.
Reporting a ‘Championship source’, Football Insider’s Wayne Veysey says that action in the Football League is unlikely to resume before June 1. This would have massive ramifications for sides like Leeds United and West Brom who are pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
United sit atop the Sky Bet Championship pile wit ha slender lead over the Baggies in 2nd place and a seven-point gap to Fulham in 3rd, the last of the play-off places. Veysey writes that both West Brom and Leeds will be looking at a season resuming on June 1 with a month of ‘pre-season’ training throughout May to get players back up to speed with the demands of the game.
After such a lay-off, it is expected that player performance levels and fitness will have dropped a little due to the inactivity they have faced and their lack of access to more structured fitness programmes. As Veysey states, a mini-version of the usual pre-season will allow players to step out of their individualised fitness regimes and back into more structured programmes.
This would “see stars given a month to get fully match fit ahead of a packed fixture schedule” says Veysey and will be a move welcomed by all clubs, regardless of the positions they find themselves in regarding promotion, consolidation or relegation battles.
For some fans, such as those who support Leed United and West Bromwich Albion, the start-up of the football season can’t come quick enough what with the Premier League at stake.
