Darrell Clarke trusts Walsall players to stay fit without fixtures

Initially, the players continued to train together despite the lack of fixtures.

But after the latest government advice regarding the coronavirus outbreak, asking people to isolate and work from home, the players have since started fitness programmes at home and Clarke believes his group will come back fighting fit when matches return.

“I’ve got my staff in today but we’re following the social distancing guidelines and we’re in constant conversation over the phone and we will have the odd meeting like the one we’re having today to see how we move forward,” he said.

“The players have got individual programmes and we have got an app where we monitor them and we make sure that they’re ticking over nicely.

“Of course they don’t get their ball work and their sharpness work but that can be fixed quickly when the boys are back in training.

“You can’t plan for it but you can certainly work towards different goals and different things that we need to be doing as a team.

“To be fair to them, most professional footballers nowadays look after themselves very well.

“I think I can trust this group of players as individuals. They are very good lads and they’re model professionals and we’ve set a certain environment here which everyone is comfortable in.

“The trust aspect is definitely there for me with my players until they break it.

“They’re all working very hard and we are monitoring that. They’re still all ticking over which they should be because the season is looking to re-commence.

“I don’t know when that is going to be but it is and players will have that at the forefront of their minds and they’ll certainly know as well as we will that we’ve all got to be prepared for the restart whenever that is.”