Mansfield Town players battle for fitness during virus lay-off

“We are asking them to come back ready, fit and able to go whenever the time comes as we will probably have to deal with a mini pre-season I would guess,” he said.

“I do not think their fitness levels will increase, but I just want them to maintain the levels they have got to.

“We have got them to a good place and we are just asking them to be good, professional footballers and look after themselves – their health first and foremost.

“It has been a different and unique situation. I have never experienced anything like this before – nor have a lot of people. It is an education for us.

“It has been difficult being confined to barracks in isolation, but it's necessary.

“Obviously we will obey the rules and instructions that have been in place - they are there for a reason and hopefully it won't be too long before we all come through the other side in a fit and healthy state.”

Despite all being self-isolated, Coughlan said there had been a lot to do, organising training schedules into groups of players and chronicling the data received.

“It's still been busy,” he said. “Similar to most football clubs you check players' weights and body fats before they leave and expect them no greater when they come back.

“I am trusting the players to come back in reasonable shape.

“You make sure you maintain your standards. They have daily programmes to complete and then have to forward the information to us – all the timings and distances.

“We have to then log it all and put it in some sort of chronological order to make perfect sense of it and give them feedback.

“Each and every one of them has a team leader and we have them in groups of four or five. They feed back to their team leader and members of staff collate it all from a distance.

“It has been hectic. But when there are days with nothing going on you do miss the activity and the general day-to-day graft-based sessions.”

He added: “The players have been ultimate professionals to be fair. It is looking very positive at this moment in time.

“But, irrespective of what you do now, you can't prepare yourself for games or training sessions in which you have physical contact.

“It is a totally different fitness base. A totally different foundation.”