Leeds United and Barnsley resumption boosted by more encouraging testing results

Three positive results from Fulham and Blackburn Rovers were produced when 1,030 players and staff were tested for covid-19 at the start of the week.

With only two individuals – both from Hull City – found to have the virus in the first wave of 1,014 tests, the results even better than those in the Premier League, which moved to contact training on Thursday.

Blackburn captain Elliott Bennett and two un-named Fulham players have been confirmed as the latest positive cases.

Championship clubs only returned to training in small groups this week and as part of the protocols they are required to test players and staff twice a week.

Leeds United are keen to see the season restarted so they try to secure promotion. With nine matches to play, they are top of the table, seven points clear of the play-off places.

A resumption would also allow bottom-of-the-table Barnsley the chance to make up the gap to safety, which is also seven points.

Hull have been the most vocal in their opposition to restarting the campaign, and they, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town are within three points of the relegation zone.

Bennett and the Fulham players will be told to self-isolate for seven days, while their team-mates are allowed to continue training.

The Football League has set itself a July 31 deadline to complete matches, and wants to host play-offs as well as the nine regular-season games all teams have outstanding.

League One clubs are expected to vote next week on abandoning their season and the fact their players have not yet been tested and have therefore not returned to training is an indication they might follow League Two's lead in asking for no more games, apart from play-offs, to be played.

Rotherham United are in the second automatic promotion spot, and would remain there if the table was decided on points-per-game, which is the Football League's preference. Doncaster Rovers and League Two Bradford City would miss out on their play-offs.

There have been 12 positive coronavirus results in 2,752 Premier League tests.

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