Strange ideas help Sheffield United cope with the coronavirus enforced break

They are challenging ones too for managers like Chris Wilder. With his team going great guns before coronavirus struck, the 52-year-old must ensure its members are ready to continue in the same vein when the suspension of competition ends and clubs, as the Premier League has stated, do their damndest to try and complete the rest of the season.

Wilder’s strategy, which he quickly devised following last week’s blanket postponements, has been to try and keep things as normal as possible. The closure of both Bramall Lane and the Steelphalt Academy has, of course, made this difficult. But there are a number of measures he has taken, and ideas he is encouraging, to help limit the disruption.

One, given the obvious impact upon their social lives, is maintaining lines of communication via the squad’s WhatsApp group.

Although talent has clearly been the most important, Wilder frequently cites team spirit as a factor behind United’s climb to seventh in the table before the fixture schedule was shelved.

Chris Basham, Egan’s defensive colleague, recently described how he and his fellow players regularly meet for coffee at a cafe located just off Ecclesall Road. Clearly, given government guidelines about the importance of social distancing as it tries to curb the spread of the disease, these get-togethers are now difficult if not impossible. So sending messages from their telephones has, for the time being at least, replaced chatting over a mocaccino as United’s bonding tool of choice.

“It’s gets pretty lively on there,” one player admitted last month. “There’s plenty happening and getting pinged through. That’s how we know what everyone is getting up to and where we can also have a few jokes.”

As The Star revealed when it was confirmed all matches in England’s leading four divisions had been placed on hold, United are also using technology to try and avoid being affected by Covid-19 in the same way as Arsenal and Chelsea, where staff were forced to quarantine themselves following positive diagnoses among employees.

An application, installed on the mobiles of all players and coaching staff required them to provide information on their health and wellbeing before reporting for training. With the country yet to enter a state of total lockdown, these steps are still being followed now, although contact with the outside world has inevitably been limited.

“All the information that gets put on that is checked and then gets relayed to us,” Wilder said, when the app’s existence first emerged. “Everyone has to do it. It’s a sensible step to take.”