Ipswich Town are hoping to play ‘five or six’ pre-season friendlies this summer as they gear up for the new League One season.

The Blues have been back in training for the last two weeks and hope begin full contact work in the next few days, with the players and staff now undergoing coronavirus testing.

The next step would then be to move on to friendly games ahead of the September 12 start, with Ipswich hoping to play five or six matches. The games are likely to be played at training grounds.

“We have had a lot of requests for games and it’s a case of confirming the pre-season programme now,” Town’s general manager football operations, Lee O’Neill, said.

“It is going to be a different pre-season. We are not going abroad, there won’t be a training camp. The focus will be around the training ground and we won’t be travelling very far for games.

MORE: Ipswich players begin virus testing as Blues prepare to step up pre-season plans“There has been a lot of interest from local clubs and we’d love to be able to sort something out with all of them but that is not going to be possible.”

It’s thought the behind-closed-doors friendly games are likely to largely be played at weekends.

The League One season is scheduled to start on September 12 but it’s expected the opening round of the Carabao Cup will take place on September 5, with the first EFL Trophy group games the following midweek.