Former Fulham midfielder Kevin McDonald has given a typical no-holds-barred assessment of his career in a brilliant interview with the Daily Mirror. The Scottish midfielder talks about his return to professional football following his kidney transplant at Exeter City, for whom he scored a stunning first goal against Cambridge last week. If you’re not seen it already, you might think he’s been watching Manor Solomon or just wanted to remind Tom Cairney that a right foot isn’t just for standing on.

McDonald, for so long the leader of a tightknit Fulham dressing room, reveals the trials and tribulations of life post-transplant and how his desire to get back to playing regularly was thwarted by another injury and a derisory contract offer from Huddersfield Town. He has settled well at fan-owned Exeter City, to where Fulham’s Jay Stansfield has also returned on loan, and still has significant playing aspirations.

The popular Carnoustie-born midfielder discusses how Fulham handled both his condition and his release, detailing how he went back to the club and worked alongside Marco Silva earlier this year.

“There were plenty of times when it was mentally hard. The hardest part for me was, I left Fulham in the summer and May was the transplant, so I had a good four months in isolation, so I couldn’t really do anything anyway. I could only do the bare minimum and my wife was getting more and more pregnant. That part was tough for sure.

They [Fulham] were brilliant with me again, but the hardest part was getting back into a club. I understand certain teams [not wanting to give him a deal] – maybe high-level Championship clubs; I knew I wasn’t going to get that sort of level even though I know I could still play there now.”

He is enjoying life with Exeter, who have comfortably adapted to life in League One again, and playing under a compatriot in Gary Caldwell.

“It’s a good club; we just got a new training ground, which was needed. When I went in it was like going back in time! That’s in place now and we went into it at the start of last week. That makes such a huge, huge difference to a club. They’ve just come up from League Two, they’ve got a lovely training ground, the pitch at the stadium is absolutely top-drawer, which was a big thing for me as well, to be playing on that each week. Come the summertime, when the club tries to attract players, it’s going to be huge. It’s a great set of lads, a good set of staff. It’s a team that’s probably playing at 50 per cent of its potential at the moment. There are a lot of good young players in there and a good set of lads. It’s a club that I would say is on the rise, for sure.”

Whilst still wanting to play, McDonald does envisage a coaching career at some point.

“I was fortunate enough at Fulham to work under good managers when I was looking into coaching, Marco Silva being one of the main ones. The manager asks for opinions here and there and stuff. It’s something that I’d like to go into. I know I’ve got a lot to offer on the football side myself, but at the same time, I’ve got an alright knowledge of coaching. I can’t thank them [Fulham] enough [for what they’ve done] in terms of before, after and still to this day. But overall, when I was training I knew I was still a good footballer and felt fine. I knew all along that I wanted to get back to playing, but I needed a back-up in place. It was probably a clever idea at the time not to play and coach instead.”