Family over football: the upside of lockdown life for Bognor star Crane

However, since the shutdown of schools and non-league football, the Bognor defender and secondary school PE teacher has been able to spend more quality time with his family, including two-year-old son Oscar, at home.

Crane disclosed the rigours of his former schedule, explaining: ‘On matchdays before the pandemic, I used to get to work at about 6.45am, do a full day of teaching, leave work for the football, and come home ready to start the next day of work. Sometimes, on away days, I’d expect to be home at about 1am or 2am.’

‘Depending on what’s going on at work, I can sometimes go three or four days without seeing Oscar. At the moment, the lack of football and remote teaching has helped me spend more time with my wife and son, because I can leave work earlier and don’t have to worry about organising sports fixtures and that sort of thing.”

As a member of the senior leadership team at his school, Crane is expected to travel into the school building each day and teach his students remotely.

“It’s certainly got its complications. Some students don’t have access to the equipment, and with PE being a practical subject, it’s really difficult for students to supply evidence of progress. I guess my main aim is to keep portraying a positive image so that the kids are motivated and engaged during the time away from school,” Crane said.

The stalwart, who first played for the Rocks 12 seasons ago, has yet to feature this season, having suffered a knee injury just before the start of the new campaign. However, with no need to rush his return, Crane has been able to focus on a recovery while football’s been on hold.

“On a selfish note, it’s given me time to get healthy and make sure I’m fit for whenever the season starts again, or the new season begins. Obviously, I had the operation and was looking at December as a return date, but not being a spring chicken anymore and the hamstring damage being slightly more severe than first thought, I probably wouldn’t have been back playing until mid-January anyway,” said Crane.

He said the hardest part of the recovery process had been rebuilding the loss of muscle in his leg. He also admitted the road to full match fitness had been a major challenge since the closure of gyms and absence of training.

Crane explained: “I tore the cartilage in my knee, so I had that repaired initially. From the operation, the muscle wasted away in my hamstring and quad, so I’ve not had an injury as such, but I’ve needed to rebuild the strength in those areas.’

“It’s tough not training three times a week. Just going out for a 5k or 8k plod isn’t going to help with football too much, so it means either going to a field and doing some fartlek training, or getting some bodyweight equipment to use at home while the gyms are shut.”