Millwall chief executive Steve Kavanagh: We’ve got to be ready – no excuses – if Championship resumes at start of April

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Steve Kavanagh reckons there should be no reasons for Millwall not to be ready to resume Championship action on April 4 – unless the coronavirus forces the EFL into another postponement of fixtures.

The Lions are set resume the league with a South London derby at Charlton on April 4.

The EFL and Premier League have postponed fixtures until April 3 to try and prevent the spread of the virus.

It means that Millwall’s home matches against Derby County and Swansea – along with a trip to Barnsley – all need to be rearranged.

Lions chief executive Kavanagh said: “We have to be ready. What we can’t do is say: “We need a pre-season, five or six days to get fit’. We’ve got to be ready. If you have prepared for this properly there is no reasons we can’t do that [play the April 4 fixture].

“But that’s depending on the situation in the country.

“We’ve all got to keep calm, be sensible and let common sense prevail to try and find the quickest way out of this.

“We have shut the Den this week. There are only people who are essential there – the ground staff. They [playing squad/management] are doing four days in, then four off.”

Millwall’s players trained on Friday and then were given time off until Wednesday. All of the squad had negative test results.

The club’s Calmont Road training base has been deep cleaned in their absence.

Kavanagh said: “All the players were tested [for the coronavirus] on Friday and nobody was showing any signs.

“They are going back to a clean environment.”