MILLWALL’s squad will have just three weeks off as Lions boss Gary Rowett targets a pre-season return date of August 13.
Rowett wants to give his players as long as possible to recover after a season that concluded 354 days after the first game following more than three months without football amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
That would give Millwall just over four weeks’ preparation for the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
The Lions returned for the start of pre-season on June 25 last year, ahead of an August 3 start. The EFL have confirmed that the first weekend of the 2020-21 campaign will begin the weekend of September 11.
“We’re looking at something around August 13,” Rowett told NewsAtDen last week. “If the date of a return is September 12, and we presume it probably is, then we’re looking at three weeks off and four-and-a-bit weeks of pre-season.
“A lot of clubs will do something similar, some might have a different approach and give them two weeks off and have five weeks of a pre-season.
“But I feel after the lockdown period when our players trained the whole way through it – there weren’t many days when they weren’t doing anything – they need a mental refresh as well as a physical one and be ready to go again.
“Otherwise you’re essentially saying next year is going to be like a 55-, 60-game season including these nine games. That would be a lot for the squad to cope with.”
Image: Millwall FC