Phil Parkinson has revealed how his Sunderland players are coping with the coronavirus lockdown.
Sunderland players have been training at home this week but, with the football season suspended only until April 30 – for now, at least – the Black Cats boss had hoped to begin a limited training schedule next week.
But that plan has been scrapped in the wake of the strict lockdown conditions imposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday evening.
“We were due to come back in on Monday this week for training, that was the plan, but then last Thursday the date that the season was due to resume was put back to April 30,” said Parkinson .
“We looked at it and, at that, point we were still six weeks away from the season starting again, so we told the players to stay at home this week with a view to them returning in small groups next week for what would effectively become a five-week pre-season.
“We were following the guidelines at the time and we felt we would be able to bring in groups of six players, already in their kit, park up at the training ground, go straight out onto the training pitch, do the work and go home.
“At that stage, with the season due to resume in five weeks’ time, it would have been a case of doing physical work so I don’t think it would have mattered that they were working in small groups.
“Nearer the time, obviously, you would have to introduce bigger numbers and do football sessions.
“That was the original plan, but of course that has changed following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday night.
“Myself and the staff keep talking about what to do next, but the situation keeps changing around us and we have to keep adapting our plans to that.
“So now the players will be working from home while the country is in lockdown for the next three weeks, and we’ll see what happens then.
“In the meantime, the players will continue to liaise with our sports science department on a regular basis and follow programmes at home.
“Nick Allamby [Sunderland’s physical performance coach] has set programmes for everybody, and he has had his own meetings via conference calls with the medical department to put things in place.”
While several clubs throughout the country, including Sunderland’s promotion rivals Portsmouth, have reported cases of coronavirus in their squad, Parkinson says his squad remains virus-free.
He said: “We have had no cases within the squad or the coaching staff.
“Everyone has been able to do the programmes they have been set, no-one has had to go into self-isolation or anything.”
