Donaldson - A Hibees Eye View

We wanted to know if Donaldson would be a worthwhile signing and a good replacement for Maynard. So we asked Hibs Davie from the Vital Hibernian site for his views.

This is what he had to say...

Donaldson arrived from York City last summer and John Collins, then Hibs boss, suggested he'd been bought as much as one for the future rather than as an player who would immediately slot into a first team role however he was involved from the bench from the start of the season.

Fan opinion of him is divided as it probably will be once he eventually moves on. He scored 5 goals for the Hibees - 3 of which were in one SPL clash against Kilmarnock albeit two of his strikes were penalties. He should have had four but missed another penalty!

The best match of his Easter Road career was in a CIS Cup defeat to Motherwell when he scored a wonder goal, finishing well after a mazy 30 yard run. That's one of the problems with Donaldson - sometimes you feel he has the makings of a decent player and other times he looks like a bad Sunday pub team player. His favoured position is centre forward although he can play on the right hand side of midfield as a winger.

Plus points are his speed and unpredictability while the biggest negatives are his slight frame and lack of natural ability.

Since the arrival of Mixu Paatelainen as manager in January, Donaldson has found himself completely out of the picture, rarely even making the bench and seemed to know his time was up at the club after hitting out at his lack of opportunities in a recent newspaper interview saying 'I had an indication they were probably going to listen to offers, because basically I haven't really been playing."

'With the manager changing, it hasn't helped at all. It's absolutely killed it for me, really. I was enjoying myself under John Collins, but a new manager has come in with his own opinions, which is fair enough. I think that was the turning point where it started to go downhill for me. I don't think I've started a single game under the new manager."

'It's disappointing because you want to play every game as possible, but I've not had much of a chance. I'd rather have been judged on opportunities given to me, but I haven't. I've just had to bite my tongue."

'There has been interest from other teams. It's up to the club if they accept an offer. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still a Hibs player and I'm still going to fight for my place as long as I'm here. I'm not really looking too far into that because I've seen it all before. You just never know what can happen in football. One minute you're not in the plans, then you score a hat-trick and you're back in favour.'

Paatelainen has told 8 or 9 Hibs squad members that they are not good enough to play for the club and it would appear Donaldson is one deemed surplus to requirements.

One definite plus point is his girlfriend Pippa Fulton who once appeared on BBC's Fame Academy - she's definitely better than Clayton!

Hibs Davie
Vital Hibernian

Thanks Hibs Davie for your views!!

You can see a 'trademark' Donaldson penalty in the YouTube video below.

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