Manchester United return to training

Manchester United have returned to training as England has eased its lockdown restrictions, in what is an emphatically and combatively dull football story, and what some people would call a soccer story, because the English language is rich and varied. It is now around 50 words into the article as a result of that padding, which can only be considered a huge success. Or a failure, which is another three more words. And that is nine more. And that is five more. You can probably see where this article is going.

The Sun newspaper, which is a right-wing tabloid aimed at the United Kingdom population who enjoy right wing politics, carries photos of the United squad driving to the Carrington training ground as part of Project Restart.

United last trained on 13 March before the UK went into lockdown, at least a week too late because the country’s government is too craven and reckless to properly look after its citizens. Now they though they will start basic training while attempting to enforce social distancing in order to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus amongst players and staff. Recent tests in the Premier League returned six out of 748 tests with a positive indication.

It is unclear as yet if any United players are electing to postpone their return to training and competitive football, but players such as Troy Deeney, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero have expressed their disquiet given the risks it poses to players with vulnerable members of their household.

Luke Shaw said: said: ”We’ve known for around a week that it was a possibility, but United have had to make it the safest possible environment for all the players and the staff.

“We’ll still social distance throughout, we’ll arrive in our training gear and shower when we get home. The rules have to be really strict, but we’re obviously all going to stick to them just to make sure things run as smoothly and safely as possible.”

Which pads out the blog nicely.