Charlton Athletic drop huge hint when Bristol City, Leeds United and West Brom's season will restart

Lee Johnson could well get his wish as to when Bristol City will retake the field again, after Charlton Athletic director of football Steve Gallen dropped a huge hint regarding the restart of the Championship season.

Johnson declared on Monday that he was hopeful to play again in the "second or third week of June" after the Robins resumed training this week.

With nine matches left to be played by each club, there remains a strong desire from the majority of Championship sides to ensure the season is completed on the pitch.

City have joined league leaders Leeds United and West Brom in being vocal supporters of concluding the campaign on the field as opposed to curtailment and deciding standings via points per game.

Leeds and West Brom occupy the top two automatic promotion places and below them it's Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Preston North End with Bristol City seventh, one point outside the play-offs.

And now it seems Charlton are stepping up their preparations as they believe the Championship season will restart on June 20.

The club is so certain that the season will restart next month, that Gallen has told The Athletic, that Lee Bowyer’s team have already lined up two “pre-season” friendlies to play early next month, including one against a Premier League team.

“Originally, when we spoke to the EFL last week and they gave us directions, they pretty much said, ‘You’ve got three weeks from Monday (May 25) until you play games’,” Gallen said.

“Now that looks like it’s been pushed back another week. It looks like it’s going to be four weeks of training.

“You would normally do five or six weeks in pre-season. Three weeks did seem a little bit too tight, especially with the first week being non-contact.

“But it looks like it’s going to be four weeks now and I think everyone agrees we can manage alright on four weeks.

“First week: non-contact. Second week: we’ll go back to contact. Third week: you’ll do more tactical stuff.

“And the fourth week: preparing for matches as well as physical training, like you’d normally do during the season.”

Before adding: “That’s what people are talking about. No date has been given to us yet but I believe the Premier League are discussing that (June 20) this week and having a vote on that. We’re planning for June 20.”

The Championship announced its latest testing figures on Thursday with three positive results from 1030 tests conducted, revealed to be two unnamed players from Fulham and Blackburn captain Elliott Bennett.

Addicks boss Lee Bowyer has also revealed that three members of his squad have not returned to training this week due to concerns surrounding the pandemic.