Footballers will sometimes look to towering figures from other sports for inspiration when times are tough.

Well, there aren't many bigger icons than basketball legend Michael Jordan - and there haven't been many times tougher to be a footballer than during the covid pandemic.

But along with the rest of their Championship counterparts, Fulham had to find a way to keep going in their bid for promotion when the 2019/20 season resumed after a three-month hiatus, culminating in 2-1 extra-time victory over local rivals Brentford at an empty Wembley.

Tom Cairney was Fulham's captain on that strange day - and he admits that he needed a bit of geeing up to get back in the swing of things after the interruption.

Cairney told FourFourTwo: “Beating Leeds at home in the week before Christmas felt like a big moment, but then the world stopped because of Covid.

"Ours was the first game to be called off, as we were due to play Brentford on the Friday night. That period was horrendous.

“But the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance came out around that time – we all watched it and everyone took inspiration from seeing the way that he trained.

"It motivated me to get my bum off the sofa, stop eating crisps and go for a jog – then when we came back, Scott Parker showed clips from it, even before the play-off final.

“We played that final in front of an empty Wembley. I felt so sorry for all the Fulham supporters because they should have had their second day out there in two years, and it was against Brentford.

"I feel sorry for Joe Bryan too – he scored both our goals that day and he’s a hero to me, but he deserved to have the fans there and the opportunity to celebrate with them.

“We weren’t actually the favourites for it.

"Brentford had Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Bryan Mbeumo up front, as well as Rico Henry, Mathias Jensen and David Raya in their starting line-up.

"They were a really strong team and had beaten us just a few weeks before, in the first game after the Covid break."