Peterborough United manager pleased with the planning of the pre-season campaign and with the fitness of his players with just one squad member currently sidelined

The Posh players returned to work earlier than every other League One squad and have arranged some quality friendlies which will all be played behind closed doors.

The club don’t intend to reveal details of the matches just yet as they are bound by strict Covid-19 testing regulations and don’t want to encourage fans to turn up.

Two of those matches will be played at St George’s Park when Posh travel to the England National team’s training centre in the middle of August.

Ferguson said: “I’m pleased that the players have returned to training in great shape and I’m pleased with the programmes we’ve been able to put in place thanks to the generosity of the club’s owners. They let me have an eight-week pre-season rather the the normal six as it will be six months for us between competitive matches.

“We have arranged some good friendlies against good opposition and three of them will take place in empty grounds as preparation for the start of the season which will take place behind closed doors.

“The players have come back in great shape and they trained well. They were working hard before they were furloughed and pre-season training will be more important than ever this year.

“There won’t be as much time for training during the season because of the later start. We could face 15-20 midweek matches, but we will be ready.

“All the players who were injured when we were locked down, Frankie Kent, Nathan Thompson and Jack Taylor, are all fully fit. The only absentee at the moment is Dan Butler who has had a small operation on a groin injury, but he will be back in two weeks.”