EPL DEPLOYS SPYING SQUADS AT CLUBS

SNOOP squads will be drafted in by the English Premier League to ensure clubs are not bending the rules as players return to training today. A team of inspectors will be deployed, with one at every top-flight training ground in a bid to stop rivals from gaining the upper hand by extending practice beyond new time limits and carrying out underhand activities such as holding tactical meetings behind closed doors. They will also closely monitor clubs’ adherence to rules which state that only 40 people — each tested twice a week — are permitted within the inner sanctum. A wide range of sanctions will be open to the Premier League board should any culprits be identified. The move comes as Project Restart gathers pace — with a date for a return to be announced potentially as early as next Thursday. Coronavirus tests have been ongoing at clubs ahead of a return to non-contact training today at 2pm. And it has also emerged that positive results will be shared with the public — although clubs and players will remain anonymous. Under the terms of Phase One — voted through unanimously at yesterday’s meeting of clubs — players will be allowed on the grass for 75 minutes. Premier League director of football Richard Garlick revealed that, in the first instance, video and GPS data would be requested, before adding that a squad of spies was on the way to ensure any cheats were exposed. ‘We are looking at bringing in our own independent audit inspection team that we’ll scale up over the next few days, which will give us the ability to have inspections at training grounds to start with on a no-notice basis,’ he said after the summit. ‘Gradually, we aim to ramp that up so we can have an inspector at every training ground. That will enable us to give everyone confidence that the protocols are being complied with.’ June 12 has been set as the return date for Premier League football but Sportsmail understands there is a growing belief within the game that June 19 is more realistic. Two meetings are planned for next week, on Tuesday and Thursday, and Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, who confirmed that June 12 was ‘flexible’, added that the restart may well be announced at the latter of those.