Cutting out goal celebrations might be asking too much says Preston North End boss Alex Neil

Players hugging and jumping on one another has come under scrutiny in the last couple of weeks as Covid-19 numbers grow.

It is probably more a case of football being seen to do the right thing, rather than major fears the virus can be spread that way in the game.

Neil says football is doing all it can to reduce risks to players and staff.

Twice-weekly lateral flow tests have been introduced at EFL clubs since last week, funded by the PFA.

Premier League clubs have been testing all season.

Neil said: “It’s an issue at the moment because in society everyone has been told to stay in the house and not have contact with anyone, then you have players jumping on top of each other.

“However, the players are being tested twice weekly at the moment and they are in the same bubble.

“So I’m not sure it is that appropriate that a lot is being made out of this.

“I could understand it if it was two strangers doing it because you would have no knowledge of whether they have tested positive or not.

“The testing system at the moment is quite categorical that the players at that point wouldn’t be positive because their test results would have come back less than 24 hours before.”

Like every club, North End have put measures in place to try and keep players and staff as safe as possible.

Since football resumed in June after the March lockdown, the PNE players have travelled to away matches on two separate coaches to meet social distancing requirements.

More recently, they have returned to how things were done at the restart – players turning up for training already in their kit and going straight out to train rather than eating together first.

Neil said: “We are following the rules the best we can, it is not easy.

“The lads come here with their kit on and we go straight out to train. They are taking their kit home to wash.

“The canteen is closed so they don’t have breakfast here, they get that at home and we start slightly later.

“We have the two coaches for away games, we wear the masks, it is quite stringent.”

Asked whether some of the procedures were going back to how things were in June, Neil said: “To an extent, yes.”

The reintroduction of the twice-weekly testing is a big thing in the EFL’s 72 clubs.

They were unable to afford it after the end of last season but now the PFA have stepped in to pay for the lateral flow test kits.

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