Albion were working against the clock in the summer of 2004.

That tends to happen when teams reach the play-off final.

There was exactly 69 days between them beating Bristol City in Cardiff and playing their first game of the following campaign.

That was the 3-2 defeat at Reading in which Maheta Molango scored 12 seconds into his debut.

That remains Albion’s shortest ever gap between seasons but, in terms of breaks between fixtures, that has today been surpassed.

It is 70 days since the Seagulls went to Wolves in the final match before the coronavirus-enforced stoppage.

In the subsequent ten weeks they have done as much work as they can at home, taken time off and then done some running, some of them using the club’s training pitches at Lancing.

Generally, a period of four weeks has been quoted as reasonable to get them ready for action from this point but no one knows for sure.

And, remember, they are not just coming back to fulfil fixtures.

They could face some of the most important games the club have played in years.

Asked how long the players would need to be ready, providing protocols for a return to training are approved on Monday, Potter said: “That’s the million-dollar question.

“At the moment we are looking at a three-month break from football and, whilst we have been keeping fit from a fitness perspective, we haven’t been keeping fit from a football perspective.

“Small groups is not football training, it’s fitness training with a ball, so I think that’s the thing we want to know to plan going forward.

“At the moment we haven’t got that and we have to be patient until we get that confirmation.

“We are moving towards stage one in the early part of the week.

“We need a bit more detail how stage two and three looks at this stage but we are looking forward to get going when we get the green light.

“It would be nice to know what stage two and three will be.

“It’s nice to have a plan, then you can prepare, but we know we are in a public health crisis and it’s a new situation for everybody and there is no roadmap we can follow.

“I understand we have to get to stage one and be comfortable with that and then move towards steps two and three but, from a playing and coaching perspective, it would nice to see a path going forward.”

Of course the 2004 summer was unusually short.

Last summer there were 90 days – just short of 13 weeks – between the 4-1 home defeat by Manchester City and the 3-0 win at Watford.

But they were back in pre-season just 46 days, or less than seven weeks, after the final game of the previous campaign.

The players had five carefully-planned friendlies before heading to Vicarage Road to restart competitive action.

It is all very different now and no one is quite sure whether all players will be on board even if the club get the green light.

Potter said: “I think there are concerns, of course.

“We have come out of lockdown, the situation isn’t totally resolved.

“So yes, there are concerns. I’ve got a young family, my wife’s family have health issues so there are concerns there.

“But there are concerns all over the country as well at the moment.

“At the same time, we are human beings like everybody else, we need that clarity if we can get it.”