Mcginn’s supply of chocolate bars helped Fleck through isolation
If there’s one player who’s just happy to be part of the Euros, it’s Scotland’s John Fleck.
Being fit and healthy just to take part is something he’s relishing after having to spend 10 days imprisoned in a Spanish hotel room.
The midfielder’s dream of representing his country at a major championships was put in doubt when he tested positive for Covid-19.
He was looking forward to taking part in the warm-up games against Holland and Luxembourg when he got the result everyone dreads.
It led to him having to self-isolate, hoping he would not go down with symptoms of the virus.
All he had for company was a television, while his team-mates trained and went off to play matches.
Ironically, the one show he passed the time watching was Prison Break.
So he had a degree of empathy mixed in with his relief over being released from his room to resume training.
Fleck revealed: “I got to the training camp feeling fine, trained a couple of days, and then came the positive test.
“I didn’t have any symptoms, and in some ways that made it a wee bit worse for me. “Mentally, it was quite tough. “I managed to get through nearly everything on Netflix.
“The boys were good at coming to my balcony, and speaking to me most days. But it was tough at times.
“I ended up watching Prison Break. I’ve obviously never been in prison, but it was great walking out of that room, and knowing I wasn’t going to have to go back in.”
Fortunately, the 29-year-old has suffered no physical harm from having coronavirus.
He added: “I didn’t fear it was over for me at the Euros.
“I knew the isolation period was 10 days, and the doctors were pretty certain that I would get some negative tests near the end of that.
“It put me back a fair bit in terms of training, and I had to catch up.
“It’s obviously a dangerous virus when certain people get it, so it was great that I didn’t have any symptoms.
“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 for the whole time.”
Knowing their team-mate was feeling fine, but confined to barracks, the other players did what they could to keep his spirits up.
The Sheffield United man said: “I’m sure it would have been more serious if I’d had bad symptoms, but I was fine.
“There were a few jokes going around.
“John Mcginn was throwing Freddo chocolate bars up to my balcony.
“That helped me out a wee bit on the sweetie front!”
“It would mean a lot to get some game time with Scotland at the Euros. I think everyone’s the same.
“I knew from very early on that I wasn’t going to be ready for the first game. Now I’m feeling good.
“There’s a great squad of players to choose from, and the manager has options to pick from all over the pitch.
“You just have to train as hard as you can, and hopefully get the nod.”