Preston North End frontman Sean Maguire looks to the positives

Like all his team-mates and players up and down the country, Maguire is having to stay fit at home ready for when the return to training does come.

It is more than a month since PNE last played and it could be the summer before a ball is kicked again.

Maguire told the Lancashire Post: “This is a tough situation for everyone, whatever you do.

“Hopefully it will bring us closer together as a society, make you appreciate things in life that bit more.

“Just being able to go and call in for a coffee on the way home from training, it’s small things like that you miss.

“When the time comes when you go to Starbucks and get a coffee, it will make me feel more grateful.

“The days do feel long at the moment and I’m sure lots of people think that way too.

“It is just a case of listening to the advice and getting through the time.

“I can’t wait for the time when I’m driving along Dodney Drive to the training ground again, I can’t wait to kick a ball.

“When the matches were stopped just before we were due to play Luton, it didn’t cross my mind that we wouldn’t be playing for such a long time.

“That’s the way it is though, we’ve seen what this virus can do and we’ve got to help the best we can.”

Getting the season going again will take plenty of planning both at local and national level.

In the Championship there are nine matches left, then the play-offs to come.

North End were in sixth place when the season came to a halt and will be looking to kick-start their push for a play-off slot when the decision is taken to start.

To take into account the inevitable later finish to the season, FIFA have announced that contracts which were due to conclude on June 30 can now run to cover to the end of the campaign, whenever that might be.

The transfer window will also be adjusted to fit in with the end of this season and the start of the next.

If clubs are changing kit manufacturers or sponsors, some common sense will need to apply.

If it means a later start to a new kit or sponsor deal because this season is still being played to a finish, then that will have to be the case.

PNE’s initial two-year deal with shirt sponsors 32Red ends this summer but the deal did include the option for a third season.

That is something for the club and 32Red to explore in the coming weeks.