SEAN Dyche has called for the Covid vaccination process to be rolled out among football clubs, to save on testing.

Premier League clubs have been testing players and staff at least twice weekly since Project Restart, and that will now also be the case throughout the Football League.

Two Burnley players returned positive tests this week, with the club waiting on the results of re-tests before finalising the squad to face MK Dons in the FA Cup at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Dyche expects the third round tie to go ahead, saying: "I know the general rule of thumb is getting 14 players out there to be active. We would like to fulfill that and at this stage I think we will be fulfilling that.

"It might not be the 14 you always expect to see but I think we can go beyond 14, certainly today.

"We will certainly be fulfilling the right team to go on and take on MK Dons as I sit here today."

But generally speaking, Dyche feels vaccinating footballers and staff - after prioritising the vulnerable and health care workers - will have wider benefits.

“My view, and I’m not saying it’s THE view, but vaccination is the way forward for football," he said.

“I can only talk for the Premier League because I’m in the Premier League, but it would be good for football.

“I appreciate some people will be surprised by that comment, but if you think about it, we’re all going to get vaccinated, we all wanted football back, the cash it generates through tax, the well-being it generates has been seen, the obvious most high-profile one is Marcus Rashford and what he achieved (through his campaign to tackle child poverty and end child hunger).

“There’s a lot of good come through football, so if you think of the amount of vaccinations across the country, the amount that would be needed in football and the finance.

“You look at the amount spent on testing in the Premier League, then that money could be channelled back into the NHS and into the vaccination system, then surely that’s a better place to be than just continually testing a load of footballers two or three times a week.

“I appreciate some people will say why should footballers get vaccinated etc, etc.

“But say 20 Premier League clubs with 100 people vaccinated, the payback to the NHS and the vaccination system would be considerable.

“If you vaccinate, you don’t need to keep testing and so the testing diminishes, and that money could be used for a much-better cause and football would stay a competitive industry rather than one that might end up a skewed industry because of players missing games.

“I just think it’s a common sense view. I appreciate there will be people who disagree with me wholeheartedly.

“But I just feel the balance between getting vaccinations to footballers quicker, the payback would be enormous by comparison.”

He added: “If the money being put into testing in football, vaccination by comparison is a very low cost. That money could be put back into the vaccination system to help the people on the frontline get more vaccinations.

“I’m talking about say 2,000 vaccinations for the Premier League. I’m not remotely saying that should be put in front of the welfare of the people who are vulnerable, or NHS workers, of course I’m not saying that.

“I’m saying is there a timeline where we could fast-track to that period because logically if would do more good putting the funding for testing into the system to encourage more vaccinations. That money could be used more wisely so the country gets better quicker.”