McInally keeps eye on mental health

PETERHEAD manager Jim McInally insists he plans to make sure that his players are doing well both mentally and physically during football’s unprecedented lockdown.

Training was cancelled earlier this week due to the facility the Blue Toon use being closed but Dundee United legend McInally has stressed he intends to keep in touch with his squad to help them cope with the restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

McInally, who is Scottish football’s longest-serving manager, said: “We were going to cancel our training this week in line with the instructions received, however the reaction from some of the players concerned me.

“They mentioned how much they were missing their football, meeting up with their colleagues and how the prospect of a few weeks of inactivity concerned them.

“What we decided to do was to continue with our booking where we train and players were told that they could turn up on a voluntary basis.

“If some of them wanted to talk then we would have talked, if some wanted to run then we would have let them run, and if some of them wanted to kick a ball than they could kick a ball within the guidelines over social distancing.

“It is a horrible situation but we cannot lose sight of how important avoiding mental health, as well as physical issues, is.

“Unfortunately our training venue did not have enough staff to open so we had to call it off.

“My assistant David Nicholls and I are contacting the boys regularly to find out how they are.”