On Sunday a provisional June 20 restart was announced, with the Football League aiming to complete nine rounds of fixtures and the play-off final by the end of July.

For players who have only been back at training a week – and even then social distancing – it will mean little time to prepare for what will be a congested fixture list, but Woodgate was looking on the bright side.

DELIGHTED: Jonathan Woodgate was pleased when Middlesbrough were given a June 20 restart date

“That’s the news we’ve been waiting for,” he said. “As a club we’ve made no secret of the fact that we wanted to restart the season when it is deemed safe enough to do so.

“We’ve followed the guidance of the authorities all along, and will continue to do so.”

Although the details of the fixture list are still to be confirmed, and a resumption will rest on the progress of the pandemic, it looks as though Boro will host Swansea City on the opening weekend. With only a two-point cushion to the relegation zone, there is no opportunity to ease their way back.

“It isn’t a lot of time, but the players worked to their own programmes during lockdown, and came back here last week,” said Woodgate.

“We’d had June 20 in mind as a possible to return and were already working towards that date.

“We had a good week last week and we’ll step things up this week, and keep moving forwards now.”

With matches against Queens Park Rangers, Bristol City and Cardiff City also due to be closed behind doors at the Riverside, Boro will hold some of their training sessions there.

“It’s important that we get back there,” said the manager. “We’ll do most of our work at Rockliffe (the club's training complex), but we will use the Riverside just to get the feel of the place again.

“It’ll be a different environment without our supporters, but it is what it is, and safety has to come first. We have four home games left and we will have to adapt to that.”

Boro are also due to play at relegation rivals Hull City, Millwall, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday.

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Middlesbrough's Jonathan Woodgate stepping up work for June 20 restart