McDonnell forges ahead as a 'throwback' in football

Midfielder Jamie McDonnell is unapologetically old school.

His tough-tackling, gut-busting and gritty work has made the Nottingham Forest youngster an instant hit on loan at League One side Mansfield Town this season.

It is an approach that also earned the 21-year-old his first senior cap for Northern Ireland against Germany in September.

"My family would always say, 'Just get stuck in'. It comes from that," he explained to BBC East Midlands Today.

In a week in which 'football dinosaurs' and their place among 'football fashionistas' have been debated, McDonnell's approach is in vogue.

Stags boss Nigel Clough certainly sees the Forest loanee as a rare find among the rich pickings from Premier League academies.

"He's a throwback, in terms of he likes tackling and heading," he said.

"Academies these days don't produce many players like that. They produce wonderfully technical and gifted players at times, but it's almost a forgotten art that you still have to get the ball back and still have to tackle and head it.

"I just love his whole attitude towards playing football."

As Clough's description of McDonnell was relayed to the player, a broad smile spread across his face as he chuckled in appreciation when asked if he took it as a compliment.

"That's the sort of game I love," McDonnell said. "Call me a throwback, I don't mind it."

Jamie McDonnell is one of three Nottingham Forest players on loan with Mansfield, along with Joe Gardner and Kyle McAdam

The "hard work and fight" that defines McDonnell's game is ingrained in the defensive midfielder from the city of Lisburn, which sits south-west of Belfast.

"It comes from my background of being from Northern Ireland, where you don't really come through glamorous academies," he said.

"You may not have the best technical coaching, but you learn different ways to get yourself in teams and to stay in those teams. It's through hard work and putting your foot in."

McDonnell played locally before joining Irish Premiership side Glentoran as a youth player.

He was also part of the Club NI programme, an Irish Football Association pathway for elite young players which has since evolved into the JD National Performance Programme.

In 2020, the teenager moved his career to England and Forest, when they were still a Championship club.

And it is in the East Midlands that McDonnell came into contact with Ryan Yates - a player who has made no-nonsense football, and the old-school elements of a tireless work rate and passionate application - the defining features of his own remarkable career.

Yates' rise to become Forest captain, wearing the armband on the Reds' return to European football this season, comes after years of toil in England's lower leagues on loan.

He picked his way through the top-five professional divisions, from a stint in the National League with Barrow, a spell at Notts County in League Two, and time in League One with Scunthorpe United and Shrewsbury Town.

McDonnell is following a similar path, having last season featured for Colchester United in League Two before this season stepping up a division with the Stags.

"I've spoken to Yatesy loads of times being at Forest, and I've always looked up to him," McDonnell said.

"The career he has made for himself is just unbelievable. To be compared to him is just an honour, really."