United tie is Mo-mentof truth for star manDonati
TALKING ACCIES
MASSIMO Donati knows relegation for a club the size of Hamilton could well mean good people losing their jobs.
Players will leave, that’s to be expected, but dropping down a division might force the club to make reductions in staff from behind the scenes. That’s the part of football nobody likes talking about.
Donati and his team are at Tannadice tonight to face Dundee United, the return leg takes place on Sunday, and there is a hell of a lot at stake.
United are hardly flushed with cash themselves and there are fears that another season outside the Premiership could place them in real bother. As for the Accies, they will be set-up for dealing with going down but it would hurt nonetheless.
Donati said: “I am aware there could be jobs on the line. Playing next season in the Championship will be a lot different to the Premiership. But it’s the same for Dundee United as well. They will want to be back in the Premiership so it’s a big game.
“I have been relegated twice before in my career with Bari and with Palermo. It did not feel good. You work and you train for a year and at the end of the season it’s not nice to go down. It’s like you’ve run all year for nothing.
“But it’s not just a personal blow, it’s a blow to the team and the entire club. I know how painful relegation can be and I don’t want that to happen again. It’s a failure.
“It’s the same for every team after relegation. It changes a lot of things. But right now I am just thinking about these next two games. It is a bit of pressure because you don’t get another chance but we are concentrating on winning. Pressure is normal in football. Every game there is pressure. We need to concentrate”
HAMILTON at least go into tonight’s game on the back of that rarest of things: a convincing win.
They beat Dundee 4-0 at the weekend to ensure it was Inverness who went down automatically. And if they play with the same freedom in their next two games then things might just go their way.
Donati said: “Saturday was very important for us. If we had lost we would have been relegated, but we concentrated and we had a very good game.
“Some games this season we have deserved to lose and some we have deserved to win. But at this moment of the season we have to forget the past and concentrate on these two games.
“These two matches are as big as anything I’ve played in. The past is the past and I have played in some really big games in Italy and in the Champions League. But for me now, these are the two biggest games in my career coming up.”
Tony Andreu, the former Hamilton striker, was a hero three years ago when he scored an injury-time equaliser at Easter Road to force a shoot-out against Hibernian which the Lanarkshire men won.
Now at Dundee United, things have changed for Andreu who said: “Everyone has been talking about it, what happened the last time I was in the playoffs with Hamilton. It is ironic but, for me, it’s just one of those things that happens in football.
“I was happy for them on Saturday that they won but I hope we are going to win this final.
“I have had good times at Hamilton. I played there, did well and have always been treated very well there.
“But this is business now and I will be trying to beat them – that’s football.”