Mentor Massimo passes on pearls of wisdom to his Hamilton jewels
MASSIMO DONATI could not have hand-picked mightier mentors for his career in football.
When he took his first fearful steps into the AC Milan dressing room as a rookie, he coveted the counsel of Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini.
Hamilton’s youthful talents did not expect to return to training this season to find a seven-team Serie A veteran as their guiding light but in walked Donati with designs on being more than just a team-mate.
He hopes to be true to his word, passing on instruction worth heeding on the pitch and career advice away from Hamilton’s battle near the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Donati’s deeds could prove priceless for the likes of Greg Docherty and Eamonn Brophy — tipped for Scotland Under-21 recognition by boss Martin Canning — during his season in Lanarkshire.
And there could be more to come from the Italian spreading his influence and interest down the age groups.
The 35-year-old has been observing youth-team coaching and training at Accies with a view to improving his chances of success when making the transition into management.
Donati explained: ‘When I was 20, I went to AC Milan and was in a big team and played with Maldini, Costacurta. They were very big players and they were a great example for me.
‘Not just from in football where they were very good players, but also in life as they were very good people.
‘They helped me a lot. That’s why I can still play at a high level. They showed me. And they played for a lot of years, they played until their 40s. Maybe I can do that.
‘So I want to be an example, perhaps to young Scottish players, in football and how you play but also away from the pitch.
‘I want to be an example and that is more important for me. I will coach when I stop playing.
‘I’ve had a lot of coaches in my career and I learned a lot from them. I’m still learning now and I have great ideas for after my career playing.
‘I will maybe start here, then after that I don’t know. I have got my B-licence, I did that in Italy.
‘Maybe the Under-17s or Under-20s could be something for me but just now I just go and watch their games because I need to be more confident with my English and I want to watch and learn from the other coaches.’
Of a more pressing nature for Donati this weekend is adding to Hamilton’s haul of one victory and five points from six league games when St Johnstone visit.
Last Saturday, he was hurt by derby defeat and a broken nose suffered from a stray elbow as Accies fell 4-2 to Motherwell and a rampant Louis Moult.
‘In the first six matches, we’ve played good football and had a lot of chances to score more goals,’ Donati noted. ‘We had some games which we should have won but we lost, like at home to Kilmarnock. So the results are not very good and I think we need more goals if we want to win games.
‘We started poorly in the derby game, I don’t know why. We were so bad — all of us. Then for the rest of the game we played good football, we had chances to score but we lost. But it’s done and now we have to look forward to the next game.’