Fulham manager Scott Parker says their young foreign players are finding it most difficult to deal with the coronavirus lockdown and that the club have a psychologist on hand to help the squad through a "fragile situation".
Football in England has been suspended since March 13 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and players have been instructed to stay at home as part of efforts to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
"It's very, very tough. We've obviously got a psychologist who works with us, he's in contact with them," Parker told The Times.
"As much as the whole situation is scary for a lot of the players, the ones who seem to struggle the most are the young ones, foreign lads.
"We have to work out where they are mentally, and keep them in a place where they're comfortable. We talk, we Zoom, there's regular communication with the players but there's no denying that it's a tough period.
"In terms of managing their minds, and them, it is a fragile situation which me and the staff need to be fully aware of and respect."
Parker said the Championship club had been well prepared for the lockdown, ordering bikes and treadmills for players as soon as they saw the situation deteriorating in Italy and Spain.
"We knew that if players weren't allowed out, or some players weren't comfortable going out, they would have some facility for exercising in their rooms," Parker added.
"Have they got a personal gym? What do they need? Weights? The majority of them are going out exercising. Some players don't want to go outside to exercise, they are scared of that."
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
