THE star-studded AC Milan dressing room around the dawn of the millennium would be a daunting place to step into for any young footballer. The names above the pegs read like a who’s who of greats, not only in the Italian game, but in world terms too.
Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy Shevchenko and a certain Gennaro Gattuso, were among the glittering array of stars plying their trade at the San Siro in those days. It was to this environment that Massimo Donati entered as a 20-year-old after joining from Atalanta, but any fears he had about fitting in among such illustrious company were soon dispelled as the experienced members of the Rossoneri took him under their wing.
Now, in less revered but no less welcoming company, the Italian finds himself at Hamilton looking to take on that nurturing, supportive role towards the younger members of Martin Canning’s squad.
“When I was 20, I went to AC Milan and was in a big, big team and played with Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta,” Donati said.
“They were very big players and they were a big example for me, apart from just in football where they were very good players but also in life as they were very good people.
“And these two were very good examples for me. They helped me a lot.
“That’s why I can still play at a high level because they showed me and they played for a lot of years, they played until their 40s. Maybe I can do that.
“I want to be an example not just in terms of playing football, but away from the pitch I want to be an example and that is more important for me.
“I’m a player like the others, just the age is different. I’m enthusiastic to play, I like to work during the week and I’m really enjoying it. I have to thank the rest of the guys and the gaffer because they’ve welcomed me.”
Whether Donati plays into his 40s or not, he is so settled living back in Scotland again that he can see a career in coaching kicking off here when he finally does hang up his boots, and he sees Hamilton as an ideal place to potentially pursue such a path.
“Definitely, I had a lot of coaches in my career and I learned a lot from them,” he said. “I’m learning now and I have great ideas for after my career.
“I maybe start here and then after I don’t know. I have got my B-licence, I did that in Italy.
“Maybe the Under-17s or Under-20s but just now I just go and watch their games because I need to be more confident with my English and I want to learn from the other coaches. I watch what they do to learn.”
The more immediate matter to hand for Donati and his team-mates is a clash with St Johnstone at the Superseal Stadium this afternoon, which has taken on greater significance for Martin Canning’s side since their humbling at the hands of Motherwell in last weekend’s Lanarkshire derby.
An elbow to the face in that match which has left him with a broken nose and eyes that give him the look of Tian Tian, made the Fir Park experience all the more painful for the veteran midfielder.
The discomfort he has felt all week has been equally spread between his physical pain and the mental anguish of another poor result for his struggling Hamilton side.
“Both of them were not good,” he said.
“[My nose] is broken but it’s not a problem. I can play on Sunday, I’ve trained all week and I’m ready, but in the derby we started poorly in the first 20 minutes.
“I don’t know why but for the first 20 minutes we were so bad, all of us. Then for the rest of the game we played good football, we had lots of chances to score more goals but we lost.
“The results are not very good. In the first six matches we play good football and had a lot of chances to score more goals and we had some games which we should have won but we lost, like Kilmarnock. I think we have to score more goals and win some games. But it’s done and now we have to look forward to the next game.
“I’m really happy here. When you win every game it’s good and you are more happy but I’m happy with the guys, with the team here in Hamilton. My family are well here.
“It’s perfect conditions for me to play here and I’m enjoying myself too - but we need to win some games.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here