Premier League clubs to discuss plans for 20 June return date
The Premier League clubs will discuss proposals for a 20 June return date, as they vote on the final stage of ‘Project Restart’ at Thursday’s videoconference.
It is now fully expected that the 20 clubs will vote to go back playing at that meeting – and may even be unanimous since so many obstacles have been cleared – but it is also possible that they agree an exact return date to add to that.
The pace of the project is now significantly accelerating, as another step was cleared at Wednesday’s videoconference with the approval of step two, a return to contact training.
That was unanimous, after the clubs declared themselves content that players felt safe with the planned protocols. The successful return of the Bundesliga is also seen as key.
One source said that “it was as if all dissent is just melting away”, and the picture looks very different to even a few weeks ago.
From that, proposals have been drawn up regarding the restart date, settling on 20 June. It is felt that will give the managers sufficient time to physically prepare the players, something that had previously been a sticking point.
It is also possible that those plans synch up with the Championship, so both of England’s top two tiers come back on the same day. That, however, will depend on how the EFL’s own meetings go.
There is a huge amount of ground to cover in Thursday’s meeting, with further talks likely to take place on curtailment one of many subjects on the agenda.
Clubs will need to settle on a model to be used in the event of a setback which prevents the 2019-20 season being finished in a reasonable time frame.
Where matches will be played is also set to be discussed with the possibility that some matches, deemed high-risk by police, could be played at neutral stadums with others remaining at their original venues.
There will also be conversations over how the 92 remaining matches will be broadcast, what time kick-offs will be and whether some of those fixtures could be made available free to air.
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