Coronavirus: Blackburn Rovers are first team to send players on an off-season break
Mowbray: “They need to have a break because I’m not anticipating a big break from the end of one season to the start of the next.“
Wednesday 15 April 2020 14:31, UK
Blackburn Rovers are the first team to send its players on a break during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Championship club say the players will start a three-week "off season" so they are "physically refreshed" when the 2019-20 season resumes.
With all professional football in England suspended indefinitely, Blackburn say the break complies with guidelines from the English Football League.
In a statement, the club said: "During this time, the players have been advised to take a step back from the intensive training programmes they were issued when football was postponed in the country a month ago due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Manager Tony Mowbray believes the move is a necessary step to protect the players from injury and fatigue when football resumes.
"It's what we've decided is best for the welfare of our players," said the Rovers manager. "You can't just keep training them really hard every day. You need to protect them from total burnout.
"They need to have a break, because I'm not anticipating a big break from the end of one season to the start of the next."
The EFL has advised clubs that training should not resume until May 16 "at the earliest", and have also stressed that further pushbacks were possible depending on government guidelines.
"The players have been working really hard over the last four weeks, so we are now taking them off their physical programmes for three weeks, just so they can take a breather and let their bodies relax", Mowbray added.
"They've played 37 league games and have been working really hard every day over the past month, as we've been tracking them and the distances they've covered via the running App, so we're telling them just to down tools, like a close season before a pre-season.
"So they're having three weeks off the physical side of the game and then they'll do more weeks at home, which might then lead to us getting back to work at the training ground for a couple of weeks before we try to get the season finished, if we can."
The manager says he will remain in regular dialogue with the first-team squad and described how they will keep focused.
"They're having time off from the physical aspect of training, but we are sending them personal development plans to analyse and look at, which also includes best practice from the Premier League."
"We'll be trying to keep the group together on Zoom, which the players have been using a lot to talk to each other, so we'll try to keep that going over the next three weeks with things that are football relevant.
"It's important to do that, just to keep the connection and the team spirit going."
