Cliftonville defender Conor McDermott has revealed how Paddy McLaughlin tried to catch out his players with an April Fool's prank.
The Reds players are currently training in isolation during the coronavirus crisis.
It is not known when the Irish League will return as Northern Ireland continues to battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Cliftonville players have been staying in touch through a WhatsApp group, and manager McLaughlin attempted a wee April 1 joke on his squad - but they were having none of it.
Speaking to Cliftonville's website, McDermott said: “Paddy told us we were back into training on Saturday, but we all caught on to what he was at quite quickly!
"He’s been trying to keep our spirits up a wee bit and that’s an important thing to have.
“Keeping communication between everyone is important because it is a difficult time for everyone in terms of what is happening, so it’s important to stay in touch.”
Like all of Cliftonville's squad, McDermott has been going through the training drills McLaughlin has set up for the players in lockdown.
“It’s hard not knowing what we’re doing or what way the season is going to pan out for us,” he added.
“All we can really do is go out and do our own training away from the team and try and keep fit. We just have to wait around like everyone else, really.
“I live down near Culmore’s wee pitch and I’ve been doing my own stuff down there – running and different drills and stuff that Paddy has sent for us to do.
“In that sense, it’s not too bad, I can do that and I have some gym stuff I can do in the house. I’ve just been doing stuff to keep myself ticking over.”
McDermott said he misses football, but insists overcoming coronavirus remains everyone's priority.
“We’ve been up and around there challenging and we’re more than capable of going on a good run, like we were on before this happened," he said.
"But at the minute, overcoming the virus is the priority and hopefully we can resume the season as soon as possible.”
