Premier League managers increasingly convinced June 12 will be too early to start playing matches once again, with June 19 looking more likely
Friday 15 May 2020 07:10, UK
Mark Noble and Troy Deeney led calls for guarantees over player safety during Wednesday's crunch Project Restart meeting.
The two skippers of West Ham and Watford respectively were the most forthright players on Wednesday's conference call and have voiced concerns with Premier League chiefs over safety measures surrounding Project Restart.
Noble and Deeney raised questions about player safety and warned there were major hurdles still to overcome before games could return.
In response, the Premier League said there were no guarantees they could offer, but if protocols were followed, training grounds would be "as safe as anywhere".
Concerns were raised by one Premier League manager over testing, medical protocols and what he called a "rushed" timetable.
The aspect of positive coronavirus tests, as seen in Germany, was also raised as a reason to slow the process of Project Restart.
Overall clubs were keen to introduce the government's Phase One - and monitor the situation as subsequent phases were introduced.
Premier League managers are increasingly convinced June 12 will be too early to start playing matches once again, with June 19 looking more likely.
Potentially the second phase of training in small groups would not be rolled out until May 25.
In the best-case scenarios, Phase 3, involving full contact, could potentially be introduced a week later on June 1 - leaving just 11 days before competitive action returns.
Managers felt just 11 days of full training was unreasonable on them and their players - with one manager questioning the motivation behind what he called "a rush" to return to match action.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said on Monday he could not confirm a start date to resume games, and he welcomed all questions and concerns from players.
