Championship return feels ‘rushed’ says Barnsley’s Michael Sollbauer

The Reds returned to full contact work on Wednesday – just a week and a half after beginning non-contact training in small groups on May 25.

If the second-tier recommences in two-and-a-half weeks time, players will have been back in training under a month – which contrasts markedly with the situation in his native Austria.

The Austrian Bundesliga returned to action this week, with players having been in various forms of training since April 20 -–in a country where the infection and death rates from Covid-19 are far lower than in England.

Sollbauer said: “It feels like it is a little bit rushed. I spoke to some Austrian guys about the situation and they also asked me when do we start with training and I told them the middle to the end of May and we want to start in (around) the middle of June.

“They asked: ‘How is this possible?’ In Austria, they started training in the middle of April and they start to play now. They have had one-and-a-half months.

“It feels like this is a little bit of a rush and from what I heard from Germany and Austria, they have always spoken about needing a lot of time to prepare for the guys and there being a high risk of injuries.

“Here in the UK, it feels like there’s not enough time to prepare.”

Sollbauer has returned to England without his young family, who remain in Austria and he admits that they have concerns about his safety, while understanding his need to get back to work.

He added: “For me, it is especially hard as I am not together with my family. The situation in Austria is much better – they can go and do whatever they want. I had to take this decision and we’ll find a way to work with it.

“They always ask me every day if everything is fine and have also heard about the (Covid-19) cases in the Championship and have some worries about the situation. They (UK cases) go a little bit down, but are still a little bit high.

“Of course, they worry about that I am back here, but they understand because I have a contract here.”

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor