Shaw’s diary: Scott and Jesse are the benchmark

Lockdown is hard for everyone, and although I’m lucky to have my family to spend my time with, I can imagine that there could be players struggling with it. Some footballers enjoy their time at home, having downtime inside, but there are others who really enjoy getting out of the house. For them, their day in and day out are vastly different now, so that could be a struggle. 

I think working out has been therapeutic for a lot of players. I tend to do that myself, I’ve tended to be in the gym more, just because you feel better after a good workout. Your mind is refreshed, you’ve done something active and worthwhile and you’ve earned some relaxation. It takes a lot of stress away from the situation.

Fitness challenges set by the coaches have been really good for the United lads. Naturally, we all get quite competitive over them. Scotty posted his 5km time on social media last week, which was a joke, something like 16 minutes. I don’t even know if it’s real. Harry did one today at 18 minutes, which is a really good time, but Scotty is a joke. 

He’s one of the fittest in the team and, if I’m not wrong, I think his dad was a runner. He must be giving him tips and training him up at the moment. It’s unbelievable how fast that time is. When I saw it, I put it into the treadmill to check the speed, and it was some ridiculous level, just a flat-out sprint, for 5km. Unbelievable. He’s a big, tall lad though, so maybe his big stride had something to do with it, but he’s a machine. Jesse too, actually. Those two are setting the benchmark that everybody needs to get to.