Sunderland Echo

We’ll need a month ‘pre-season’ to regain full fitness – Robins

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“The EFL are in contact once a week, the rest of it is speculatio­n.

“The things you look at one Sky or BBC or whatever, some of it is factual but a lot of it is speculatio­n because no one knows.”

Coventry are one of a number of sides – including Sunderland – who have furloughed their playing staff during this uncertain period.

The Black Cats’ entire first-team squad, and all contracted academy players, have been furloughed with the club ensuring everyone is paid in full.

The government guidelines state that employers cannot ask their furloughed employees to take part on work while they are on leave, but what this means in a footballin­g context is unclear.

Robins, however, has explained exactly what it means for the Sky Blues and the impact it has had on their training plans.

“It’s really difficult because everything has stopped,” he added.

“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.”

 ??  ?? Coventry City boss Mark Robins
Coventry City boss Mark Robins

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