Man City and Manchester United have been handed a major indicator as to when they might be allowed to return to training.
Clubs across the Championship, League One and League Two have been told not to resume training until May 16 “at the earliest” by the EFL with the aim of completing the 2019/20 campaign in 56 days once football resumes
Sides in the three divisions have also been told to advise their players to take their holidays now as there will be no time between the end of this season and the beginning of the next campaign.
“Whenever the decision is taken that is safe to resume, we currently estimate that the League will require approximately 56 days to complete the outstanding matches in the season (including play-offs),” the letter from EFL chairman Rick Parry, first published in the Telegraph, read.
We are committed to ensuring that clubs are provided an appropriate notice period to ensure you are able to prepare operationally given the scale and impact of the postponements in place.
“We are in a position whereby the 2019-20 campaign will be extended, but still remain hopeful of a conclusion in the summer months.
The EFL Board is currently working on the basis that the end-of-season play-offs will take place across all three divisions as normal with two-legged semi-finals and a final, although no decision has been taken on the likely venue as it will depend on the circumstances at play at the time.
“It is our working assumption at this stage that matches will be played behind closed doors when we eventually return and as part of our contingency planning we are absolutely mindful of the need to try and mitigate the cost of this to clubs as best we can.”
The Premier League announced last week that the season had been indefinitely suspended amid the coronavirus outbreak.