Scottish Premiership sides to resume training on June 11 ahead of August re-start

The top flight sides won't have to wait too long to get back on the pitch

The Scottish Premiership has this evening been given the green light to resume training from June 11 ahead of a return to the field in August.

SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster made a presentation to the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, Joe FitzPatrick, and the National Clinical Director for Scotland, Professor Jason Leitch today to plot football's return to the pitch.

And the approved Return to Football strategy from the Joint Response Group (JRG) will see the suspension of football lifted for the Premiership only from June 11 and the 2020/21 season kick-off as planned on August 1/2.

No decision has been made on when lower leagues and the women's game can return.

But it means Lanarkshire side Motherwell and Hamilton Accies will now start preparing for their return to work in less than two weeks' time.

Premiership clubs can now begin preparations to ensure their training grounds and stadia are equipped to deal with the increased safety measures necessary to create safe environments for players and staff, including the ability to undertake the necessary testing procedures and observing stringent training and matchday protocols.

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive, said: "Return to professional football has been the culmination of weeks of hard work from across the game from people whose workloads and demands have already been increased to cope with the impact of COVID-19 on their clubs or areas of work within Scottish football.

“In particular, I would like to thank our Chief Medical Consultant, Dr John MacLean, for his invaluable input throughout this process.

"As a JRG member and co-chair of the medical sub group, he has overseen creation of a comprehensive strategy for testing procedures and safe ‘return to training’ and ‘return to playing’ protocols that have given confidence that the Scottish Premiership can kick-off in August.

“As the governing body, we will continue to engage with government and key stakeholders to provide a similar plan for the return of the game at all levels of Scottish football.

"While acknowledging that the current testing regime required to be observed will be prohibitive for most clubs out with the Premiership at this time, we are aware that there are hundreds of thousands of players across the Scottish football landscape looking for clarity on when they can return to action. 

“In particular, the paused Scottish Women’s Premier League is keen to restart and we will be discussing with stakeholders the process to restart the women’s senor game in line with the government’s route map out of lockdown. 

“Conversations will continue in the coming weeks to outline a pragmatic approach for the whole game and we will communicate those developments at the appropriate time.”

Neil Doncaster, SPFL Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that the Scottish Government have given the green light to the resumption of football training in June.

“We now have a firm target of starting the 2020/21 Premiership season on the weekend of August 1 and that’s a major step forward.

"We will  continue working with the Championship, League 1 and League 2 to gauge their ability to start the season and if so, when - which may vary hugely between clubs.

“We clearly welcome the prospect of resuming matches, but we have to take all necessary steps to ensure we can have a sustainable league campaign. That means a safety-first approach, with games initially played behind closed doors and a range of measures to protect players and staff.

“The return of crowds is something we all want to see and we will be working with clubs, Government and medical professionals to return safely to playing in front of fans as soon as we can.”

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