Sean Maguire has become a bookworm in lockdown.
But he would gladly put the novels back on the shelf if it guaranteed a return to football.
His Preston North End team-mate Ben Davies has used the down time to learn sign language.
And Paul Gallagher has taken up darts.
Ireland striker Maguire said: “People deal with these scenarios in different ways. There are lots of people getting into different hobbies.
“You have to keep yourself mentally active. I‘ve tried to do more reading. I haven’t read that many books since school, but I have started to read a little bit more.
“I’ve also started to step up my yoga game, as I’m not getting any younger, so there’s a little bit to be gained from this lockdown.
“But I just want to be back kicking a football again.”
With nine games of the Championship season to go, sixth-placed Preston are currently occupying one of the playoff spots.
But there are only six points separating them from QPR in 13th spot.
Maguire said: “We want to go down in history as a PNE team that got to the Premier League.”
Longing for a return to action, the Kilkenny man added: “You can see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of getting back to training in some sort of way.
“It could be a massive couple of months for the club. When we do get back to football, it’s going to play a huge part in people’s lives.
“People are missing sport in general, not just sport. Turning the TV on at night is a bit boring as there’s only so much you can watch on Netflix.
“And any time you turn on the news it’s full of bad news. Hopefully football can resume safely and we get back to a sense of normality.”
