‘Ludicrous’ to start on June 20 says QPR boss
piece of business by Cowley in January. His loan deal ended in May, but he is still training with Town who are in talks with Leicester about extending the agreement until the season is over.
The 31-year-old has featured seven times since arriving, starting just twice in blue and white.
FOLLOWING Grabara’s head injury just three days before the January window closed, Town moved quickly to bring back former keeper Lossl on loan from Everton.
He has not featured for the Toffees since leaving the Terriers for Goodison Park last summer.
Since coming back, the Dane has
L F A Pts 9 44 40 54 9 52 50 54 12 52 45 53 10 46 45 53 12 49 49 51 15 58 62 50 15 46 42 48 15 46 49 48 14 48 57 47 19 49 55 42
14 37 47 41 16 38 50 41 18 49 63 41 18 44 54 39 22 43 71 35 19 42 62 34 been first choice in Grabara’s absence and is set to challenge for a starting spot at Everton next season.
AFTER spending the first half of the 2019-20 campaign on loan at, but not playing a game for, West Bromwich Albion, Benfica winger Willock was re-located to Huddersfield.
He has made up for those early-season woes since signing for Cowley’s side.
The 22-year-old started in each of Town’s last three games prior to the season being paused, scoring during the win over Bristol City.
■■CLUBS relegated from the Championship at the end of this season should receive a £7.4m parachute payment, according to Barnsley.
EFL Championship clubs are facing enormous financial pressure as they grapple with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Barnsley are seven points from safety with nine games left. And the Tykes have written to the EFL to plead for financial aid for clubs that are relegated.
They say: “If the 19/20 season is completed, it will be completed with
a lack of sporting integrity. Some clubs will have unbalanced squads compared to competitors due to ending player contracts.
“Those clubs unfairly and unlawfully relegated to a lower division would face further uncertainty and potential failure of their enterprise.
“The only way to secure against innumerable damages in the case of relegation would be a one-time parachute payment to the affected clubs representing the loss of one season of television revenue.”
QPR manager Mark Warburton says Championship football is returning ‘too fast’ from the coronavirus pandemic.
The EFL announced plans to resume the season on June 20 following a three-month suspension.
QPR slammed the proposal on Monday, saying they were informed of the plans just 40 minutes prior to the statement being made public.
And Warburton believes the turnaround of returning to action is too quick.
He said: “To get caught blind-sided, 40 minutes before the public are told, is just inappropriate.
“We are all for finishing the campaign, but give us the time to prepare the players to avoid the injury risk.
“We have to make sure we avoid the medical chaos in the injury room.
“Now suddenly, without any consultation, we get told that we are starting in less than three weeks which
I just find to be ludicrous. We have the play-offs to consider as well and there will be a lot of games in a short period of time. But right now we need to acclimatise our players.
“They are talking about being able to use five substitutes. You are much better off having an extra week or 10 days to work with, prepare your players and maintain the normal rules than you are worrying about the five substitutes and changing the normal guidelines.
“If you look at how the pandemic is progressing across the UK, we are going too fast here in terms of the football.”
Championship clubs are yet to approve protocols for a return to contact training, which the Premier League brought in last week, and have less than three weeks before the first matches in the restart take place.