IT would be something of an understatement to say that Mickael Antoine-Curier has been around a bit.
The French-born Guadeloupe international is back at Hamilton Academical for a third spell, adding a further line to a football CV that already stretches to several pages.
The 30 year-old has pulled on the strip of 18 different clubs after leaving the Parisian suburb of Orsay for Preston North End 12 years ago, and played in countries as diverse as Kazakhstan, Norway, Cyprus and Malaysia. Those experiences put Antoine-Curier in the ideal position to judge the merits, or otherwise, of Scottish football.
There are aspects of it that he enjoys. The physical rough and tumble was never going to be a problem for a striker measuring in the region of 6ft 3ins, while his knowledge of English colloquialisms and profanities continues to grow. "Shouting and swearing on the pitch is part of the culture here," he says. "You've got to have a laugh with it."
Antoine-Curier first came to Scotland in 2007. He believes there has been a gradual movement in the intervening period away from a game obsessed with tackling and getting stuck in towards an increased focus on the more technical aspects of the sport.
He reveals himself to be a huge admirer of John Collins, the man who signed him for Hibernian six years ago and who now works as a part-time youth coach for the Scottish Football Association. Antoine-Curier thinks he is the ideal figure to lead a football revolution.
"John Collins is the perfect man for that job," he said as he launched the SPFL's International Development partnership with media rights company MP & Silva, a deal that will see the Scottish game broadcast in North Africa, Middle East and Asia.
"Scottish players work really hard but John is all about technique. It will be very good for the game here if he can add that technical aspect.
"Like I say, I worked with John. My God, that was amazing. People would complain every day about his training methods but that is how you get to be the best."
Collins' methods, infamously, did not go down well with many of the Hibs players who went to chairman Rod Petrie to call for his removal just weeks after Collins had led the team to League Cup success.
That was before Antoine-Curier's arrival, and club captain Rob Jones later apologised on behalf of the dressing room, but by the end of the year Collins was gone. Antoine-Curier remains amazed that the former Scotland midfielder's views do not get a wider platform.
"People like John, having been away from Scotland, know there is more to football than competing. They need to add things so when they play in Europe they don't lose to teams I've never heard of."
Antoine-Curier, however, has more immediate matters to attend to. "The plan is to take Hamilton back to the top flight. At first I thought maybe we could get to the play-offs but now we need to aim higher. We're on top but it's a hard league. We need to keep winning and see where that goes."
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