BOSS TRAINS SIGHTS ON CITY STARS
ROBINS: SKY BLUES WILL NEED A MONTH TO GET SET FOR RE-START OF SEASON
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MARK Robins says his Coventry City squad will need a month to get ready for the re-start, whenever that comes.
The Sky Blues’ League One campaign had been put on hold until April 30 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the EFL has since announced that the season will remain suspended “until it is safe to resume”.
Many hope that clubs will be able to get back to training sometime in May and begin playing games again in June.
When asked about how long he feels the squad needs before fixtures start again, Robins admitted they are getting into pre-season “territory”.
“We need a month,” said Robins, who says the players are “desperate” to get back to work.
“It’s been over five weeks now since we last did anything together – the longer that goes on, the more time we will need.
“If you look at pre-season generally, if you get a full pre-season it’s seven weeks, eight weeks so you’re getting into that territory now.
“Ultimately we have got to be ready to go when we get things lifted. Everybody is guessing on a lot of things at the moment because there is not enough information for anybody to be able to plan, but the plan just moves down the line.
“We’re ready to go as soon as these lockdowns are lifted. The EFL are in contact once a week, the rest of it is speculation. The things you look at on Sky or BBC or whatever, some of it is factual but a lot of it is speculation because no one knows.”
The players were all given training programmes to follow at home during the lockdown and now voluntary sessions are being offered by the club’s fitness staff due to the furloughing process which means that players are not under a requirement to train. But, as you would expect, the players are remaining professional amid the situation and continuing to keep themselves as fit as they can in the circumstances in order to be able to
We’re ready to go as soon as these lockdowns are lifted. The EFL are in contact once a week. Mark Robins
carry on where they left off when the season finally resumes, hoping to push for the League One title.
“It’s really difficult because everything has stopped,” said Robins, whose side are top of the division with ten games to go.
“The players have been furloughed, so we can’t do anything. It’s something that you think about all of the time – how the players are doing, what they are up to.
“They’ve had programmes and plans previously before they went into furlough, so they’ll have been doing some work, and I know that’s the case because we can follow that and they’ve been working hard really.
“On the back of that we’ve put things on for them but you can’t make them do anything, so it’s a case of voluntary stuff and there’s still an uptake for that. That’s all you can do.
“Ultimately we’re trying to get on with various things and various planning, and hopefully we can get back sooner rather than later.”
He added: It’s very frustrating but it’s necessary because ultimately people are losing their lives. I think it’s something you have to be mindful of. While it thankfully hasn’t affected me at this moment in time in terms of family, it’s affecting a hell of a lot of people and that’s what we have to be mindful of at this time.”