Club boosted by prospect of return to action, says Barber

Chief executive Paul Barber says the whole club has been boosted that Premier League action is set to return next month.

Albion’s first game against Arsenal will be played on the weekend of June 20-21, with a definite date for this and the eight subsequent matches to be confirmed.

He said: “I think the whole club has been lifted by the news.

“We all feel a lot better than we have done during the past few weeks, although of course that pleasure is tempered somewhat with sympathy for all those people who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

He is particularly pleased that some of Albion’s remaining nine games will be on free-to-air TV after an agreement was reached between clubs and their broadcast partners which will see Sky Sports show 25 matches on free-to-air and BBC broadcast four top-flight fixtures for the first time since 1988.

“I’m delighted our fans will get a chance to see every game. I think that is fantastic news and credit to how all the broadcasters have come together,” said Barber.

“Back in March, Arsenal were due to play Manchester City at the Etihad on that midweek before we were playing them at the Amex on the Saturday. That is basically the way the fixtures have been reconstituted.

“We don’t know yet what our slot will be over that weekend, but we are looking forward to welcoming Arsenal to the Amex and getting things back under way.”

Graham Potter’s squad stepped into phase 2 of the return to action on Thursday when contact training was allowed in small groups for the first time.

Barber says the Albion players are fully on board with the protocols which have been put in place and believes there is enough time to get them ready for the return to competitive action in three weeks.

“When you think back to discussions we’ve had we said what was critical was that we brought the players with us,” he added.

“We gave them plenty of time to hear what they were being asked to do, plenty of time to ask questions and plenty of time to get comfortable with all of it.

“They’ve taken in had a lot of information, they’ve had several conversations amongst themselves and they’ve had the confidence to move into stage two.

“I think the low levels of positive tests [for Covid-19] amongst the Premier League clubs have reinforced that we’ve probably created environments at the training ground and soon to be at the stadium which are probably among the safest you could possibly go into.”