When the Premier League finally gets back underway on June 17, it will have been over three months since English football was suspended.
The coronavirus pandemic continues, but with an emphasis on safety and having seen the Bundesliga's successful restart, the game is set to return.
Clubs have returned to their respective training grounds, under strict guidelines. Some have begun playing practice matches at their own home grounds, whether in the form of inter-squad matches or friendlies with opponents from elsewhere.
Testing has been a big success, with six rounds of twice-weekly tests already having taken place, and only 13 positive tests among players and staff in total.
While Premier League clubs have negotiated and put in place the necessities to bring football back, its players have been waiting patiently, keeping fit and, in many cases, eyeing self-improvement.
Here, Everton's Michael Keane opens up on what life has been like during the coronavirus pandemic...
On life during coronavirus and dealing with the virus itself
Three months without football has felt like an eternity.
And I can’t wait to get back to playing for Everton because I’m not sure I’ve ever gone this long without playing or knowing when I would play again.
It’s been such a strange time as I had the virus myself early on, training at home in lockdown, watching Netflix and getting back to contact training with all the new protocols.
I got the virus after we’d finished training but before the country went into lockdown. I went to play golf at Wentworth, felt ill driving home but my pals didn’t get it so I don’t really understand where I got it.
I was in the shower and all of a sudden I felt like I was going to faint. It wasn’t something that I’d had before. I came out of the shower, I was soaking wet just lay on the bed and I just needed to lie down.
I didn’t think too much of it, I was OK but then I work up the next day and I felt really off. I didn’t have a cough but felt lethargic, low on energy and then went to bed that night and had the sweats for two nights.
I went out for a run, was going out for 20 minutes but had to stop after three and a half minutes because my chest wasn’t right, I was really heavily breathing and I had to stop and walk home.
I knew at that point something was wrong. I told the physios and they sent me a test, it arrived six days later by which time I felt better but it still came up positive.
Even when I felt better, it probably took two weeks for my chest to feel back to normal when I was running.
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It’s been such a long time and when it became obvious that we wouldn’t be going into training for a while, I turned my garage at home into a gym to keep myself fit.
I’ve got a peloton bike in there, treadmill, weights and flooring and mirrors. It’s a good set-up and once it’s in place I had no excuse! You knew you had to put the work in, you can’t cut corners and, looking at the lads since we’ve been back, I think everyone’s done that.
I watched lots of Netflix, Ozark, Money Heist and then Gangs of London on Sky. But I also got back in touch with my old youth team coach Paul McGuinness at Man United and I ended speaking to him four or five times on Zoom.
He works for the FA now and he really helped me with a few things. We looked at some clips and talked about my footwork, how I can turn quicker and going through drills which I can use to improve that.
I owe a lot of where I am to him so to get back in touch was great and really good for me. I spent a lot of time talking with him because there’s always things you can learn to improve your game.
The club have been great, really supportive. They sent cleaners out to all the lads’ houses, sanitised all the houses. They have a sanitising gun and it sprays mist, they sprayed the whole house, my car and all the players had that.
They also gave us the option to take a deferral. I think everyone appreciates that clubs are going through a difficult time through this and the club left it up to us on deferrals, you could choose what percentage and I think some of the lads have deferred a lot.
I thought it was unnecessary what Matt Hancock said about footballers. I think 99 per cent of footballers would have helped anyway without that sort of public pressure.
Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines were in touch with the board, the PFA and as soon as anything came up then he’d send a message into the WhatsApp group and we’d set up a Zoom call the next day to talk it through.
I’ve been really impressed with the way it’s been handled and the protocols make you feel safe. Players did have concerns about going back and rightly so because the general public are worried, too.
It was the same test as I had but it’s different when someone else does it to you, it’s more uncomfortable. The way the testing works is you have three check points, you stay in your car the whole time.
The guy comes out with a full mask on and it’s like a long cotton bud which goes down your throat, it can make you gag and then that comes out and they put it up your nose and twist it. It brings your tears to your eyes!
It only takes five minutes all in all, it’s a really good process and it seems to be working. To have no positive tests last week really gives you that comfort to make you feel safe. We’re going back to games now and the numbers are really low.
Going back to training has been strange because the training ground is all closed up. We have to park three spaces away from each other. There’s about five stewards telling you where to park, the doctor is there waiting ready to take your temperature to make sure you are OK.
We have a Wellness app - which we’ve had for years - and normally it’s about how you slept, muscle fatigue and so on. But they’ve added on if you’ve had a cough, come into contact with anyone who had Covid and you have to fill that in every day.
The only indoor part of the training ground which is open is an indoor pitch. We have our own water bottles, we have to sanitise everything before use it, things like foam rollers, the bike, you have to sanitise the handlebars, the seat and you have to wipe it down.
Every player has his own stretching mat with their name on it so no-one shares a mat. The physio wears gloves if you need treatment and even if you get strappings then you have to put on a mask.
They spray everything down, they sanitise the grass, they do similar with the balls, if you wear a bib then you have to throw it away after wearing it.
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Quite a hard one - and it’s not a nice habit - but they are really strict on spitting. When you play football, it’s a habit, especially when it’s really hot and you’re running. It’s clearing your airways and you do it naturally without thinking. There’s big signs up saying no spitting.
We got three sets of training kit, you don’t shower there, you turn up in kit and you have to wash it when you get home. I don’t enjoy washing and cleaning but I don’t mind in these times.
The first five minutes of contact training felt a bit weird just because you hadn’t done it for so long. They actually have a guide where they have to evaluate each session, they have to work out the size of the space and how many players are doing the session.
If it’s a small space with a lot of players then the more high risk the drill. They have to then add all the numbers up from all the sessions and if it’s above a certain number then they have to stop. It limits the smaller sessions and they have to be very careful.
I’ve not noticed anyone being careful or cautious in training, you can go into tackles because you know everything is so safe.
I think everyone is just itching to get back now to play competitively. Going into a game is a different feeling and you miss it when you don’t have it.
On Liverpool potentially winning title at Goodison
It would be our worst nightmare and our fans’ worst nightmare for Liverpool to win the title on the first game back.
We have to make sure we are ready and can beat them no matter what. It would take Man City to lose to Arsenal first but even if that doesn’t happen we have to do everything we can to win that game. The rivalry is huge, it’s so important.
Our crowd is so important and they play a massive part in helping the team, driving us forward but it’s something that won’t affect the way we play too much.
At Goodison, the way we start a game it can be really important. If you put a tackle in early doors, or get an attack going, they get behind you and it gives you an extra five per cent on the pitch. But we’ll have to create that for ourselves which we will do.
It will be strange not having fans but it will be the same for everyone. Once you’re actually playing, you don’t focus on the fans, you focus on the pitch and, as a centre half, you’re scanning the pitch and shouting at the midfielders to get into position.
Even with no fans there. just being in your own surroundings of course it would be better to be at Goodison.
But if we have to play at a neutral venue, although you don’t have the same comforts of Goodison and the little things like having the same seat in the dressing room, it won’t affect us too much.
Playing a lot of games in a short space of time will be a challenge but personally I think it’s something I’ll relish. It will feel like being back in the Championship again where you play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday.
During that time you don’t actually do much on the training pitch and just play games but that’s the best part and I can’t wait to get back.
On Everton fans and club work in the community
Of all the clubs I’ve been at, Everton have been the best with their fans.
I’ve rung seven or eight fans, had a good chat with them from anything from 15 minutes to half an hour, including one lady in the US who had been sat on a plane, ready to take off and come to Goodison for the derby for her first ever Everton game.
Then they announced lockdown - and she had to get off the plane and she didn’t make it! I gave her a call, spoke to a fan in Switzerland, some vulnerable fans and those feeling a bit lonely.
It actually gave me a boost because it reminds you what the club means to fans. It wasn’t just me and a lot of players put in an effort.
Theo Walcott did workouts on his Instagram to give fans something o do at home. I went on BBC Breakfast and talkSPORT to talk about and promote what the club are doing in the community.
The club’s community programme is so good. I spoke about mental health on the BBC because I think i understand that it’s easy to get down in times like these but if you speak to people then it gives you a boost and can help change your life around.
I received a lot of messages after that, even from Liverpool fans, saying how much they appreciated me talking about it and opening up on the subject.
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