Govt delivers major boost to accelerate Leeds promotion bid ahead of Thorp Arch return – report
The positive news for Leeds United keeps flooding in at the moment.
After getting the green light to return to training at Thorp Arch today, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has now announced phase two of their ‘elite sport returning to training guidance’.
This refers to a return to close-contact training, the next major milestone before matches can begin, hopefully in mid-June.
The report in the Mail says this gives the EFL the green light to accelerate a return to action and gives Leeds a massive promotion boost as they look to secure top-flight football on the pitch.
The Premier League is ahead of the Championship at the moment after their players all returned to training by last week, with some clubs starting earlier than others.
The Premier League is set for a meeting on Monday about the new training guidelines and there is a vote on it planned for Wednesday.
The Times claims the big question is what happens if a player in close-contact training tests positive and whether that means big groups of players could be forced to self-isolate.
That’s a very important point that needs clarifying.
It seems right to us that the Championship is following the lead of the Premier League, and Leeds players will get a second round of testing after training at Thorp Arch this week.
So far, so good, though, with no Leeds players or staff testing positive.
In fact, with just two people returning positive from over 1,000 tests, there’s every hope that if everyone follows strict social distancing, that there could be even more positive news for the Championship from the second round of testing this week.
Meanwhile, we’re going to be delighted to see the Leeds first-team players back at Thorp Arch today, although they’re likely to have some trepidation – we don’t imagine that Marcelo Bielsa is going to go easy on them, with a restart potentially just one month away.
And let’s not get it wrong – finishing the season on the pitch is the only guarantee of promotion at the moment.
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