Spending time with my baby boy is a great diversion from all the anxiety
MARCUS FRASER — ROSS COUNTY
WITH a newborn son to dote on, Marcus Fraser has been happy to retreat into his family bubble during lockdown. Temporarily stripped of his responsibilities as club captain following Ross County’s decision to furlough their playing staff, the duties of full-time fatherhood have easily filled the void.
Yet as he bonds with 15-week old Maddox, Fraser knows coronavirus has the power to do much more than confine he and partner Nicole to their Inverness home.
Although the Highlands have been largely insulated from the worst of the outbreak, the 25-year-old defender shares in a sense of helplessness as he watches the death tolls rise on the news bulletins.
Beyond the suspension of the current season, the football fall-out remains incalculable.
Like most professionals, the defender would preferably like to play out the remainder of the Premiership season but won’t quibble if the campaign is prematurely ended and the league reconstructed for next term.
On a personal level, a decision to call the season might even create an environment for ending the uncertainty of his own future.
Out of contract in the summer, Fraser had been happy to prioritise the team’s efforts to remain in the Premiership ahead of negotiating a new deal with the club’s co-managers Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell. Now, though, he finds himself in limbo.
‘There were more important things before lockdown,’ he admits. ‘I don’t like to say we were in a relegation fight but we had important games to take care of.
‘If we had taken care of the next two or three games, we could have been safe and I suppose talks would have gone from there.
‘I’ll sit tight and be positive. The managers have been brilliant with me, always honest and up front.
‘I believe in myself. Being furloughed, I will need to wait before finding out their plans for me and the club.
‘I have enjoyed my time here. I have played a lot of games and I like playing for Ross County. Hopefully, people recognise I have done well here.’
Fraser (right) has proved a durable and popular figure since joining from Celtic in 2015 and was part of County’s League Cup win a year later, before enduring the pain of relegation in 2018.
Appointed captain for the club’s promotion-winning season last year, he retained the armband for the current campaign.
Steady rather than spectacular, County’s form has kept them no lower than their current position of tenth this term.
A decision to end the season on current standings would offer some stability but the natural instinct and urge of every player is to get back on the pitch.
‘Four or five weeks down the line and we’ve heard nothing,’ says Fraser. ‘I don’t want to comment on it too much but clubs have different ambitions and financial situations. There are pros and cons to every option but we just need to back the decision they make.
‘At Ross County, we are in a decent position. We were coming into a good run of fixtures. Even pre-split, we would play Hamilton and St Mirren and then play them again after the split.
‘There are no guarantees but we all fancied ourselves in that mini league.’
To stay fit, Fraser has been training in isolation, combining a mixture of strengthening sessions at home with road runs and trips to the local park to do ball work.
‘Before we were furloughed, we were given programmes but, as a professional footballer, you get to know your own body, he says. ‘I know what I need and what I can do.
‘For the first couple of weeks, I enjoyed it. Last week, it got boring, so I ditched some of the longer runs for shorter and sharper sessions.
‘Those runs are useful but pounding your body on the road three times a week is probably not the best thing for a footballer.
‘I have a bodyweight band in the house that lets me do my legwork, squats and lunges.
‘I will run twice a week max on the road and there is a local grass pitch 10 minutes from the house. I jog down there and then I set up wee bottles and markers and get a touch of the ball.’
These sessions are a poor substitute for the normal routine. It’s Nicole and Maddox who keep his head and heart nourished.
‘Footballers don’t normally get paternity leave, so I feel all this time with Maddox has been a great help to me,’ explains Fraser.
‘I’m still training four days a week but I can fit it round my family life and not the other way round.
‘On the days I’m not training, we’ll take him for an hour-long walk. He is doing great. Another 10 days and he’ll be sitting up.
‘We had a ball next to him the other day and he was kicking it away. So that’s him football-mad like me already.’
The conditions of the government’s Job Retention Scheme means Fraser cannot indulge in any direct contact with his employers.
Normally the link between dressing room and all other facets of the club, he is now legally obliged to professionally distance himself from Ferguson, Kettlewell and the rest of County’s operational staff.
The consistent narrative from First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon that social-distancing measures must remain in place for months to come have cast serious questions of when and how football will return.
Until granted permission to report back to the Global Energy Stadium, Fraser can only continue to plough a lone furrow.
‘I’ve been online and see that the club has started a wee initiative called the Staggies Army to keep everyone engaged,’ he adds. ‘They are asking fans to sign up for membership in return for benefits like money off season tickets and discounts in the club shop.
‘That’s a clever way to get fans on your side during a tough time. Here in Inverness, we only see coronavirus in the news as there is not too much spread of it up here. ‘When you do see it in the news, it’s an eye-opener. Hopefully we can see the numbers (of infections) going down and we can get back to the football.’