OUT of contract in the summer, former Celtic target Stephen O'Donnell was playing his football at Rugby Park to attract interest from around the UK.

Nowadays, though, earning a deal at a bigger club could not be any further away from his mind. As the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, the Kilmarnock defender is simply happy to be fit, healthy and spending time with his family.

With five-month-old son Cillian and wife Kellie at home, O'Donnell is enjoying his downtime. In the world of football, it's not often players spend more time on their couch than on the training pitch.

And while he admits he does miss the game and his teammates, the 27-year-old is content with being a husband and dad during one of the most difficult and surreal times in our history.

"I think we're still awfully far away from all of this blowing over, you can't imagine anyone signing any players at this time," O'Donnell said.

"It is a unique situation but I've got an agent who I trust. I'm relaxed about it, what will happen will happen. When the world is in a position to discuss contracts, that's when I'll look at it again.

"Hopefully at that stage there will be some good options somewhere and then I'll make the decision. That's where I'm at just now. I've stressed out about a lot in my career but this is actually one of those things that nobody can do anything about, so I'm quite relaxed about it.

"I hope I've done enough to get a couple of good offers but we've obviously had an up and down season, so it might be a wee bit harder than previously.

"I'm fortunate that my wife has a good job and is on maternity leave just now. So she could go back if things were to financially become a strain. But that would obviously be a wee bit down the line or however long this goes on for. I'm enjoying getting to spend a lot of time with my wee boy, we've been floating about the house, really.

"It's great to see him so much because normally you're always thinking about having to train or 'no I can't do that because I need to go to the gym'. It's good just to get time alone where it's just myself, him and Kellie. Everyone has their own worries, their own lives. So in the grand scheme, me worrying about a contract when I know my wife has a good job, is not important.

"You see people with big families losing their jobs. I'm in a very fortunate position right now and I know that."

Kilmarnock currently sit eighth in the Scottish Premiership having not had the best of seasons up until this point. Consistently inconsistent, the Ayrshire outfit have left a lot to be desired from their third place finish last term.

O'Donnell, however, would still prefer to finish the current campaign rather than call it quits now. The SPFL have a lot of work to do before a resolution is sorted and the question surrounding how to conclude the season is answered.

But while Scotland cap O'Donnell would want to play to a finish, he understands the potential consequences to that scenario. "I would prefer to finish the season, there's no doubt about that," he added. "If it's financially possible and sustainable to last and finish it, I'd love to finish it.

"I think if you asked any player or manager, they'd want to finish. Then it comes down to what's the best thing, the right thing and what is the safest thing. And it's important to look at what has the least fallout. There's no scenario that's going to keep everyone happy.

"I honestly think, realistically, that it's virtually impossible to finish the season. I don't know what the other options are. Nobody wins from this, no matter what happens. Celtic win the league, you're going to have Rangers fans saying they didn't because it wasn't finished. Sadly this whole situation isn't something anyone has control over, we're in the hands of the Gods!"

Training and maintaining a footballers' level of fitness will undoubtedly be an issue for countless stars around the country during lockdown. Not for O'Donnell. He has found a way to keep himself in good shape. "I don't have a home gym. I made the conscious decision," he laughed. 

"I could make my garage into a wee gym or I could keep it as a garage and join a gym. I chose to join the gym so I've got a nice expensive gym membership! So that's a bit of a pain.

"You can do enough things to keep fit like out and run, you can do enough body weight stuff. One of my pals started up as a personal trainer and I actually set up an Instagram account so I could watch some of his videos to mix things up a wee bit. We had a programme with Kilmarnock but we're obviously now on furlough so we can't do that.

"I've been working hard and treating things a bit like a close season. But instead of managing to get a holiday, I'm stuck in the house."