How Bradford City caretaker-manager Kevin McDonald's path to the dug-out started amid the toughest of times at Premier League club Fulham

It has put him in good stead in his current role as Bradford City's caretaker manager.

Back in June 2021, the Scot – who turns 35 next month - underwent kidney surgery.

Knowing that he would need a transplant one day was something that the midfielder, who previously played in Yorkshire with Sheffield United, had contemplated since being diagnosed with IgA nephropathy - a chronic kidney disease that progressively gets worse - when he was 18.

He reached stage five of the disease in his early thirties; when one of his kidneys had stopped functioning, during his time at Fulham.

His elder brother Fraser offered to donate his organ and was approved as a match.

McDonald's body initially rejected the new kidney and his stay in hospital was a prolonged one. It was a time when he had to isolate himself for several months during a tough recovery process.

Thankfully, McDonald went onto recover. Still on the books of Fulham, a plan was in place for him to start himself on the coaching ladder.

It is likely to prove hugely beneficial ahead of his current role as interim manager after Bradford parted company with Mark Hughes last week.

McDonald got off to a winning start in last weekend's 1-0 League Two win over Swindon - to buy the League Two club an element of time in their search for a permanent replacement for Hughes.

On how his path into coaching started out, McDonald, speaking to The Yorkshire Post in the summer, said: "At the time, isolating after the surgery itself had a damaging effect and the time when I was off my feet probably took more of a toll than I'd have ever imagined.

"But a coaching thing was put in place and I took that opportunity.

"I saw my Fulham contract out to do some coaching with the under-18s and under-23s and we had one eye on me maybe not potentially playing. But the sole goal, if it was physically possible, was to play again.

"Coaching has been something I have always kind of always been intrigued by. I started looking at it from 28 onwards.

"First and foremost, I am here as a player and that is that. Maybe at the end of the contract, there might be something there, I have done my B licence and my A licence is pretty much finished as well.

"I have cracked on, in that side of things. But that's further down the line."