Have the Premier League opened the door for a resumption of East Anglian derby hostilities - this month?
According to The Telegraph, the Premier League has given clubs the green light to play friendlies ahead of the Premier League restart on June 17.
There are a number strict instructions that go along with it - which include players driving to games in their own cars, possibly in their kits.
Clubs will also be forbidden to travel further than 90 minutes away. In City’s case, that look to include just half a dozen league clubs – Peterborough, Cambridge, Stevenage, Southend, Colchester – and Ipswich Town.
The games will be played at either stadiums or training grounds.
There will be no official referees allowed, with members of coaching staff taking charge; there will be full risk-assessments of the stadium/training ground before games and all players involved must have recorded a negative coronavirus test in recent checks.
The Premier League will grant special dispensation to teams, such as Newcastle, if they have to travel further to play games.
City are known to want to play a friendly game before they re-start their Premier League campaign, on the weekend of June 20-21, but it is not known what standard of opposition they favour. If it is league level, then their options are limited and many clubs are not back in training – like Ipswich, who can’t return until next week at the earliest, and that’s only if the season is going to resume, which will not be known until next Monday. Many non-league clubs have players on furlough and may not be either friendly match-fit or allowed to play.
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