READY TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT
Midfielder Fleck hoping to face Croatia following isolation hell
‘JOHN MCGINN THREW SOME FREDDOS UP, SO I WAS FINE ON THE SWEET FRONT. THE REAL ISSUE WAS BEING IN THE ROOM THE WHOLE DAY’
CONFINED to his hotel room in not-so-splendid isolation, John Fleck turned to his Netflix subscription for a dose of escapism. His choice of viewing during his 10-day stretch? Prison Break. The midfielder laughs as he delivers the anecdote yet, beyond the boredom, there’s been a price to pay for his positive Covid test a couple of days after checking into Scotland’s pre-tournament base in the south of Spain.
Asymptomatic throughout, the first thing to say is that Fleck’s health was unaffected by the virus. And the protocols applied by the SFA medical staff helped prevent anyone else in the travelling party becoming infected.
Yet in a professional and personal sense, the episode has sabotaged the player’s summer.
The Sheffield United midfielder had set off for La Finca in high spirits, his inclusion in the 26-man squad for Euro 2020 both a reward for some diligent service during Steve Clarke’s two years at the helm and a tonic after his club’s relegation from the English Premier League.
Already towards the back of a queue of midfielders vying for a place in Scotland’s starting XI for Euro 2020, Fleck was hoping to use the pre-tournament friendlies against the Netherlands and Luxembourg to stake a late claim.
Yet his unavailability for both matches — never mind the bulk of the squad’s preparatory work — saw him fail to even make the bench for the tournament opener against the Czech Republic.
Like most who deliver a positive swab, Fleck was stunned when informed of his result.
‘I got there feeling fine, trained a couple of days and then returned the positive test,’ he explained.
‘I’ve got no clue where I picked it up. I will probably never know.
‘I was shocked because I felt no symptoms and, in some ways, that made things worse for me.
‘For the first few days I was sitting thinking: “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with me” and waiting on something coming but I felt fine the whole time.
‘But it wouldn’t have been nice if I had passed it on to somebody. Thankfully, that never happened.
‘It was a difficult period, going to my room and not being involved with the boys for 10 days.
‘Mentally, it was tough. I would be on FaceTime to the weans or on Netflix. I managed to get through nearly everything on there and ended up watching Prison Break.
‘Apart from that, I did absolutely nothing.
‘I’m not into computer games or things like that, I never have been. So that part was tough without the boys and staff around me.’
The first day of confinement brought the frustration of a missed training session.
Day two saw him left behind as the squad headed to Faro to play out a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, with six others left out of that fixture as a precaution.
Toughest of all was check-out day when the party headed to Luxembourg — and left Fleck behind to see out the remainder of his containment.
‘They gave me a wee bike in my room but anybody who knows me knows I’m not a big fan of sitting on a bike for ages,’ said Fleck. ‘I find that boring.
‘I suppose the upside was that it never got passed on to the rest of the squad. In that sense, I was quite happy.’
The use of an outdoor balcony at least allowed Fleck some sunshine and fresh air as he waited out the remainder of his term. And it also provided an opportunity for some socially-distanced interaction with his squad-mates.
‘The boys were good at coming to speak to me,’ explained Fleck. ‘There were a few jokes flying around. It would have been more serious if I’d had bad symptoms.
‘I had John McGinn throwing (chocolate) Freddos up, so that helped me out on the sweetie front. It was still breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time as everyone else, so it was as good as it could have been in that sense.
‘The problem was spending the whole day in the room. And it put me back a fair bit in terms of training, I had to catch up on that.’
As a consequence, Fleck and third-choice goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin were the only two players to go into the tournament without a minute of game-time in the build-up.
‘It was difficult as the players went off for those matches,’ he said. ‘I am pretty sure I’d have played at some stage in one of those two games.
‘The main thing was just to get over that period of time in isolation and try and get back to where I was before. It was great walking out of that room knowing I never had to go back in.’
Handed a full international debut in a qualifier against Russia early in Clarke’s reign, Fleck has been a trusted squad member for the former Kilmarnock boss and was back among the subs for Friday’s fixture against England.
‘I’m now feeling good,’ he stressed. ‘I knew very early on that I wasn’t going to be ready for the first game.
‘I didn’t take part in the full sessions for the first couple of days after isolation. After that, it was just a case of trying to get some fitness back into me.
‘I then did a bit extra with the physios after training to get extra runs into me.
‘It would mean a lot to get some game time against Croatia. The manager has options to pick from all over the pitch and I think everyone is really delighted to be here at the tournament.
‘We’re all in this together and whoever plays, the rest of us will back them.’