THE journey that Simon Donnelly made to be at the bedside of his close friend Jackie McNamara in England last month was complicated by the fact that Storm Ciara was lashing the country and he was stranded in Arran.

His arduous trek south, though, will be straightforward in comparison to the long road to recovery that McNamara, who suffered a bleed on the brain, has now embarked on. 

Donnelly was back at Hampden this week to look ahead to the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final between St Johnstone and Celtic, two of his former clubs, at McDiarmid Park this afternoon. But he provided an update on McNamara’s condition and was pleased to report the former Scotland internationalist is making progress.

“He’s been through a lot, but he’s making positive inroads,” said Donnelly. “I’ve been down to see him twice and he was bright. He was in good form.”

However, the former forward, who played alongside McNamara in the Celtic team which won the Scottish title in 1998 and prevented Rangers from completing 10 in a row, stressed there is some distance to go.  

“It’ll take him time and a lot of rest,” he said. “It’s going to take patience from everybody. Particularly him, because I know what he’s like. He’ll want to recover tomorrow, but he has to take his time with it.”

Donnelly, who played alongside McNamara at Celtic and Partick Thistle as well as with Scotland and was his assistant manager at Thistle, Dundee United and York City added: “When I heard the news, it was just such a shock,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t as difficult for me as it was for Jackie.”

Simon Donnelly was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.