Championship clubs will begin phase two training next week ahead of a proposed return to fixtures towards the end of June.
Sportsmail understands the EFL sent contact training guidance out to clubs on Thursday afternoon and there is hope clubs can respond with updated risk assessments over the coming days.
Managers have been planning for the Championship to restart over the weekend of June 20 and are encouraged by the latest developments running parallel to the Premier League.
They believe this week’s sessions have effectively acted as the first few days of pre-season and the resumption of contact drills during a second week is in line with normal preparation for a campaign.
Coronavirus testing will continue to take place twice a week, with some clubs undertaking a third round of tests yesterday (THURS).
Preston boss Alex Neil said on Thursday that clubs now want quick clarity on specific dates of matches. North End currently occupy a play-off spot.
‘What you would generally do, when you get your fixtures, is to look at your first game and work backwards,’ Neil said.
‘You plan your training schedule accordingly to make sure that you are hitting peak fitness and peak game-readiness for that first game.
‘At the moment we are training hard, but we have still not got a start date and still not got that first fixture set out.
‘I am just hoping that they don’t let us train for a week or so and then spring an early date on us where we basically have a week and a half or two weeks to get started.
‘I would be really thankful, and I am sure every manager would be, if we got a start date ASAP, so we can really start to plan.’
Source: m.allfootballapp.com