Preston North End’s travel plans have had to alter for season’s restart

The Lilywhites start again at Luton Town on June 20 and normally they would let the train take the strain.

However, it seems public transport is off limits due to health and safety reasons.

Neil said: “Normally we would go by train to Luton because that is the best mode of transport for us in terms of time, comfort and getting our own carriage.

“That had been really good for us since I have been here.

“At the moment we are told that is not allowed. So we are going to have to get a minimum of two coaches to travel to Luton.

“We will have to stop overnight. If we set off on the morning of the match there might be traffic issues, so we’ll have to go the night before.

“We are planning our preparation in order to set us up right for the games.”

One grumble for Neil in terms of the fixture schedule for the resumed campaign is having a clear midweek straight away.

Neil, who celebrated his 39th birthday yesterday, felt it would have been better to play when teams were fresh and then have a midweek off later in the schedule.

After facing Luton, PNE host Cardiff at Deepdale the following Saturday and then go into four weeks of weekend and midweek fixtures.

“The one thing which I don’t get is why we have a free Wednesday in the first week back,” Neil told Talksport.

“If you do reach the play-offs you will have 11 games back to back.

“The most we have done in the Championship is five games back to back at Christmas. It is a tough ask for the players to maintain intensity and not pick up injuries over the course.

“It would have been much better if we had spaced the games out.

“We could have had four or five games, had a clear midweek, then finish off with four or five games.

“I don’t understand the logic of it.

“Our club wasn’t spoken to about it and some other clubs weren’t spoken to.

“We would have liked to have had a vote or a say on the remainder of the games schedule.”

North End have now been back in training for more than a fortnight and Neil is looking forward to the season getting going again.

“The players have dug in, got on with their work and been very diligent,” said Neil.

“I think we will ready to go when we start.

“Since the players started contact training they have felt a lot more comfortable about things.”