From The Times..........

The government has urged the Premier League and other sporting competitions to significantly step up planning for a return to action behind closed doors in the hope of lifting the national mood during the coronavirus crisis.

The Premier League, which has been suspended since March 13, has drawn up a plan titled Project Restart that could allow matches to be played as early as June 8 behind closed doors at “approved”, neutral venues. Now it has emerged that a cross-sports working group is preparing a report on how football and other sports — including cricket, rugby and horse racing — can resume safely this summer.

The Times understands that there has been a significant shift by the government in the past few days in favour of restarting sport. With prime minister Boris Johnson due to return to work today after recovering from Covid-19, there is a view that the prospect of live sport returning would create some much-needed positivity.

The working group across sports, which is being led by David Mahoney, the chief operating officer of the England and Wales Cricket Board, and Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, will present a plan to address the logistical challenges of staging sporting events during the crisis.

Crucial to the process that insiders say is being “ramped up” is a meeting between the medical officers of all the main sports and representatives from the chief medical officer’s team.

The Premier League’s plan to resume in early June allows for a three-week “pre-season”, in which players would be training in full-contact sessions. The government has given clubs permission to allow their players back into training grounds on the understanding that they are employees who cannot properly do their work at home.


How Premier League is plotting return......

Monday, April 27 Arsenal are first side to return to training. Players will travel alone and do individual workouts. The club have ten pitches at their London Colney training complex.

Friday, May 1 Premier League shareholders meeting to discuss player contracts, which expire on June 30, and the transfer window.

Thursday, May 7 Potential relaxation of government lockdown measures.

Friday, May 15 Final Premier League meeting to set out plans for return to action.

Monday, May 18 – Sunday, June 7 Premier League clubs return to training while adhering to strict social distancing measures with a three-week window for a mini pre-season before matches.

Monday, June 8 – Monday, July 27 Matches resume behind closed doors with aim to complete the outstanding 92 games in an eight-week period. Seven outstanding FA Cup ties could be completed within this window.

Monday, August 3 – Friday, August 21 After a one-week break, players return for pre-season lasting between one and four weeks ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.

Sunday, August 9 – Saturday, August 29 Champions League and Europa League campaigns completed in a three-week block.

Saturday, August 22 New Premier League season kicks off with European and domestic cup competitions planned as normal.

Saturday, August 29 Champions League final in Istanbul.

Saturday, September 12 Latest possible start for 2020-2021 season but could mean shorter league and cup programmes.

Good luck !