Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate shares Leeds United stance on EFL and Championship restart

The Middlesbrough boss shares the stance of his former club Leeds United and wants the season to be completed on the pitch, once it is safe to do so.

“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.”

Just like the Whites, Woodgate's players completed individual fitness work at home before returning to small group training last week.

Fellow Championship club QPR, who sit six places and nine points ahead of Woodgate's 19th-placed Boro, have today released a statement in which they blasted the EFL's lack of consultation with clubs over the June 20 restart date and took issue with the speed at which players will have to return to match fitness.But Woodgate says his club were preparing for that date specifically.

“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.”

Woodgate says his players will do some of their training, in preparation for a resumption of the Championship season, at the Riverside stadium, to acclimatise players to the behind closed doors atmosphere they'll play in.

“It’s important that we get back there,” he said.

"We’ll do most of our work at Rockliffe [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, who lost 4-0 and 1-0 to Championship leaders Leeds this season, sit two points above the drop zone with nine games to play.