Millwall offer to pay for rivals' coronavirus tests if they are promoted to Premier League

Going up? Millwall are two points off the play-off places
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Millwall chief executive Steve Kavanagh says the club will foot some of the bill for coronavirus testing for their Championship rivals if they are promoted.

Testing is set to begin at all Championship training grounds tomorrow and Friday, ahead of a return to socially

distanced group training on Monday, although some clubs — notably Hull — remain fiercely opposed to completing the campaign.

The Championship rebels, also thought to include Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday, want the season abandoned, citing concerns over player safety and the expense of mass testing.

But Kavanagh says Millwall will pay a third of the total cost of testing the 21 non-promoted clubs if the Lions reach the Premier League, with Gary Rowett’s side currently two points outside the play-off places and nine matches remaining.

Kavanagh told Standard Sport: “If we were lucky enough to be promoted, we would we pay a third of the costs with the other promoted teams, as a measure of solidarity. If we were to be relegated and had to pay for the testing costs, having suffered all the other financial problems, it would have really smarted and there are clubs in the middle of the table, who are absolutely saying the right thing is to play on, but they are going to incur testing costs, too.

“Ultimately, someone will financially gain through promotion and if we’re lucky enough to be that club, we feel it’s right that we would cover our share of the costs.

“I ran the idea by the EFL over the weekend. They described it as a very generous offer and we made the offer to the clubs on Monday. We’re not asking or saying other clubs should join in.

“A number of clubs have already written to me and thanked me for the offer, but they’re not going to repeat it because they’re towards the lower end.

“Other clubs have said they’ll match it, and that’s fantastic and generous of their boards. We all play in the league together, we all stand together.

“It’s a solidarity step. We think it’s the right thing to do, to stand by our fellow clubs at this time.”

Every club will be tested twice weekly, in line with the Premier League, and allocated 35 tests each for players, coaching and medical staff — five fewer than in the top-flight. Staff who have not been tested will not be allowed at training grounds.

Millwall have set some realistic conditions on the sum they are willing pay, with the total expense of testing expected to be £75,000-90,000 per club and roughly £1.5million in total for the non-promoted sides.

Each promoted club, therefore, would have to pay around £500,000 to foot the bill for testing at the other 21 clubs — a drop in the ocean considering potential gains of £170m for reaching the top flight.

The EFL are paying up-front for testing and plan to deduct the cost from quarterly payments to clubs.

“We’re all struggling financially and if we’re lucky enough to have a financial windfall at the moment and we can ease that burden on other clubs, then we think that’s the right and honourable thing to do,” added Kavanagh.

Millwall expect to pay around £500,000 for tests if they go up
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The Championship is following the Premier League’s lead on plans to resume the campaign in mid-June, and the top flight’s Project Restart received a major boost yesterday, following the first round of centralised testing.

From 748 tests, there were just six positives across three clubs, among them Burnley and Watford, who recorded three positive tests.

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