It’s 10.45am in Modena on a sunny Saturday in April and the Piazza Grande is bustling with activity. Visitors are searching out the best vantage point to take in the imposing Duomo, jostling for space with local activists preparing their soap boxes and football fans already milling around ahead of this evening’s big match.

Cutting through the throng is a man dressed in white – from his polo shirt down to his trainers. In self-professed “full-on tourist mode”, Tommy Doig is perhaps the most un-Scotsman-looking Scotsman going – the sunglasses and Andrea Pirlo-esque locks finishing the look that belies his Edinburgh roots. 

He is in town, as he is most weekends, to watch his son – Josh. The 22-year-old has been in Italy for almost three years now, initially joining Hellas Verona before moving to Sassuolo in January 2024.

Their clash with Modena at the Stadio Braglia is a derby, with less than 20km separating the two, and victory will edge the Neroverdi closer to a top-flight return at the first attempt. 

Tommy has offered to show Destination Calcio what the authentic Italian matchday experience looks like through the eyes of those closest to the stars on the pitch. 

First, though, an introduction to a city the 51-year-old has quickly become familiar with. Despite playing for Sassuolo and their ground being in Reggio Emilia, Josh has picked the home of balsamic vinegar and Ferrari as the place to lay his hat.

There is the plaque commemorating the house where Panini – the football sticker giant – was founded, and there are nods to some of Modena’s most famous sons – including tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Talk soon turns to another son. Where did Josh’s journey to Italy begin? 

“I took him to a Dunfermline game against Hearts,” Tommy tells Destination Calcio when asked about Josh’s first match.

“I went with my friend Andrew Irving, whose son Andrew now plays for West Ham. They were both there. I had to change Josh’s nappy at half-time. 

“I remember young Andrew was running about with a t-shirt on. It was snowing, it was freezing, but the boys were just so hardy, they didn’t care.”

Today in Modena, the short sleeves are a little more justified. 

11am

There’s a spanner in the works. Josh has to go and see the club physio over a slight hamstring issue and his place in the squad for the match this evening is under threat. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed. 

As we await news, there’s time to dip into one of the busy bars around the centre to grab a coffee and a late breakfast.

In Maison Livre, a shiny golden bottle of Lambrusco coated with Modena Calcio’s badge is on display, the bar happy to show its affiliation with the local team.

Despite the colours and the match tonight, Tommy receives a warm welcome from the staff he has got to know. It is perhaps to be expected. Few understand the futility of attachment to a club better than him. 

Having been a Hearts supporter his whole life, seeing Josh sign for them as a kid was something every fan dreams of for their boy.

“As soon as he was born, almost, he had a ball in his hand. Every photo we’ve got of him, he’s got a ball,” Tommy says over an Americano and pastries. “Every dad likes to think their son’s got something. But it just kept going. He was just obsessed with football.

“The day he got picked up he was six or seven. I remember it clearly. The Hearts scout came to watch him. He hit the post from the halfway line and he was running around, beating everyone. 

“After the game, they said, ‘Look, we’d like him to go to Hearts’. At the time I was a Hearts fan – it was the best thing ever.” 

Josh threw himself into football at Hearts over the next 10 years. Tommy would often look out his office window to see his son on the bus to training before 3pm, his school work taking a back seat. 

However, much to even his coaches’ dismay, the hard work failed to win over those in charge when it came to handing out professional deals.

“They actually came to our house,” Tommy explains. “They were going around the boys’ houses, so we were eighth or ninth to be told. 

“He’d done really well up to this point. But at the time, (manager) Craig Levein didn’t want to sign him, didn’t rate him. So they told him as he was sitting on our sofa that he wasn’t getting a contract. It was pretty cruel to watch your son have his dreams crushed.

“It was devastating. It was all he ever wanted. But that’s football. We moved on. 

“I said to Josh, ‘Keep going to training, wait until the end of the season and apply yourself the best you can’. And he did. He was picked to go and train with the first team at Hearts over some of the boys that had been given contracts.

“I’ve quickly lost my love for Hearts, the way they treated him. I’ve never been back to Tynecastle. Once Josh signed for Hibs, it was all Hibs for the family. Even my in-laws, everyone turned to Hibs. It was strange, but it feels normal now.”

1pm

It’s time for Tommy to catch up with his wife Lynda and their four friends from Edinburgh who have joined them for the weekend. He finds them meandering through a collection of classic Ferraris, a spatter of inimitable red GT4s and GTBs that have been parked up in the Piazza Roma. 

This is the third time his pals have been across to see Josh play. He didn’t feature on those two previous occasions and this morning’s news about his trip to the treatment table has raised the real possibility of an unwanted hat-trick.

While some are just hoping for a glimpse of the left-back in action, Tommy has a bank of calcio memories – and a few that will take some beating.

“The Sassuolo game last year when they beat Inter Milan 1-0 and Josh assisted the goal, that was a massive high point,” he says.

“But the best one was his first start for Verona against Sampdoria. It was my birthday and he scored his first ever goal. 

“I remember in the morning being in the house with the music blaring, psyching ourselves up. Josh was away at the hotel but it was his playlist, house music, to get us revved up for it. And then I remember we walked up to the Bentegodi, it was a beautiful walk up.

“We had the helicopters flying about and stuff – it’s a big game. We got up to the stadium, we got to the hospitality, a couple of glasses of fizz, just to ease the nerves, and then we took our seats in the family section. 

“Just the noise of the fans was unbelievable. The Verona fans were so passionate, so wild. It was a proper football match in a proper stadium. 

“It was surreal to watch him play Sampdoria. I’d watched them against Barcelona in the (1992) European Cup final. I was at Wembley. They had (Gianluca) Vialli, (Attilio) Lombardo, all these guys playing. It was amazing. To see my son play and then score against them was a dream come true.

“I was going to burst. I’m so proud of him, proud of everything he’s done, everything he does. But that was over and above anything I could have dreamed of.”

3pm

At every turn, football has had an inescapable grip on Tommy’s life. Between the ages of 18 and 36 his own career took him across the semi-professional and amateur rungs of Scottish football, from Queen’s Park to Civil Service Strollers. 

The high point came in 1998, when he was part of the Edinburgh City side that reached the third round of the Scottish Cup and earned a tie with then-Premier Division side Dunfermline. Ahead of the East of Scotland League side’s 7-2 defeat, Tommy was one of three players selected to meet the local press at Paul Gascoigne’s hairdressers – the owner having won a £50 raffle to sponsor the team for their big match.

Today, the Doig household is once again up for the cup. It’s not just Josh who has a season-defining game ahead. 

Tommy’s daughter Hannah is in India living with her partner, Jason Cummings. The Scotland-turned-Australia international is with Mohun Bagan and they are playing in the Indian Super League Final against Bengaluru. 

The group head back to the house to catch it on TV. While the distance can be tough on this tight-knit family, exploring new frontiers has always been encouraged.

“Celtic were speaking to his agent, and Chelsea as well when Josh was flying at Hibs but nothing came of it. It was the season after the Italian interest came,’ says Tommy.

“That was a big one for me. There was no other place to go. Most players go down south or go to Celtic and Rangers. I thought, ‘You know what, go out of the box. Go and try something different’.

“He was only 19. So I’m telling him he’s going to be living in a foreign country on his own. He’s never even been to Italy.”

Josh’s own adventure nearly ended before it began, however. He had yet to set foot on the pitch for his first club Hellas Verona before he was being introduced to some typically Italian tactics in the boardroom. 

“We agreed the contract before we went out,” says Tommy. “Me and my wife and the agent went in to meet the Verona guys. 

“They came through with their suits on, then they wrote something down and passed it to me. It was half of what they’d offered before we’d flown over.

“I was like, ‘No, that’s not what we agreed. You’re at it’. We got up and walked out. It took everything in my willpower not to stay and just get it done.

“By the time we got in the taxi they’d phoned us. ‘OK, come back’.” 

The relief was short-lived, however, as the reality of the size of the move kicked in. 

“Josh went back and signed the contract – fantastic,” he continues. “Literally from that moment, he was away. He went up to the mountains to the retreat. 

“My wife said, ‘You can’t take him now – he’s got to come home and get his clothes. He’s only got a toothbrush’. They said, ‘No, he goes now. That’s it’. 

“They took him in a van, up to the mountain, it was a three-hour drive to the Dolomites, for a training camp. And that was it. That was the start of it.

“Lynda was very upset. I was fine until she got upset. I had a bit of a tremble, but I thought, ‘You know what, it’s the best thing for him. He has to do it’. But it was so sudden.”

The parental instincts led to Tommy and Lynda playing a key role in Josh settling down in Italy. He rented a flat from Italy international and team-mate Mattia Zaccagni, with room for his folks to stay when needed.

“We tried to get over as much as we could,” Tommy adds. “The flights were good. You could go on a Friday and come back on Monday. We were over a lot to help him because he liked us being there. 

“It was tough. It still is tough, he still finds it tough. He has moments of loneliness, as you would as a 22-year-old. But he gets on with it. He’s quite mentally strong and he batters on with it.”

5pm

One down, one to go. Cummings has scored to help his side win 2-1 and complete the double in India. 

As he lifts the cup, congratulatory messages are sent and thoughts in Italy turn to a bite to eat before the match. 

The decision is made to take a stroll down to Da Michele’s – the pizza institution that was founded in Naples in 1870 and has since conquered all corners of the globe. 

Nothing though, beats coming to Italy, and Modena, for the real thing. And that’s not just down to the food. 

“It’s fantastic, a beautiful place,” Tommy says of his son’s adopted home. “The people are wonderful, friendly. I love coming here. It’s like a home from home.

“Josh is just down the road. There’s a friendliness. Almost like Scottish people are very friendly. I find that here as well. Nothing’s too much trouble. 

“And the food as well – the food’s the best. Uva d’Oro is lovely. There’s so many. Rossi’s restaurant, and Da Michele Pizza is fantastic.”

Despite all this, there is still a pining for their time in Verona.

“Verona is just the most beautiful place,’ Tommy says. “I’d never really heard much about it, apart from Shakespeare. But it’s my favourite city now. 

“It’s historic – the restaurants, just to walk about on the marble streets, an amazing place. There’s such a chilled-out vibe as well. The whole package was just perfect.”

6.30pm 

After a 15-minute walk, Tommy arrives at the ground with his wife and friends. The Stadio Braglia is a throwback of a stadium, with giant white pillars stooping over each corner providing the floodlights. The main stand is a towering hunk of concrete, with shrines to former glory days plastered on the concourse inside. Modena are expecting their biggest attendance of the season, with more than 13,000 fans purchasing tickets. 

Taking in the view of the pitch, the group are finally greeted with good news on Josh’s condition. He’s in the starting line-up, his earlier trip to the physio giving him the all-clear. “Now is when the nerves kick in,” Tommy says. 

Home or away, Sassuolo have never quite managed to provide the fizz that Verona did. The hospitality at the Bentigodi has been replaced by buying his own tickets in the main stand. “Maybe Josh has got them to ban me, he’s keeping me out the bar,” Tommy jokes. 

Nerves are usually countered with a glass of wine at home in the Doig household. Tonight, a pint from the stadium bar is all that’s on offer.

“Usually, if I’m watching at home, I don’t breathe because I’m so nervous,” he says.

“It’s better when you’re there because you focus on the game, it seems to fly past. But watching it at home is more difficult.

“Last time out I was in London, watching it in a restaurant, watching them 3-0 down (against Palermo). My heart was racing, I was kicking the table – I’d almost kicked our whole lunch over. If I’m not doing that, I’m kicking the guy’s seat in front of me!

“I just care so much and want him to be OK. But he’s strong, he gets on with it. He brushes everything off.”

Tommy takes himself down pitchside to watch the warm-up and get a glimpse of Josh. He stands quietly, watching through the perspex. Arms behind his back, focusing on his son’s every move. 

9.25pm 

The nerves no longer exist. Most have been shredded by a pulsating game that amongst other moments has included a chance for Josh to score with a header and a wild lunge which he pulls out of at the last moment. 

The rest dissipate with the full-time whistle, as Sassuolo secure a 3-1 victory that all-but confirms their return to Serie A. 

In the main stand, there are hugs and high fives as Tommy, his wife Lynda, and their friends savour the moment. 

On the field, Josh celebrates with his team-mates. There is pandemonium in the away end as green and black flags fly through a sea of smoke. As the players join the 1,500 away supporters revelling in their derby win, the Scotsman is front and centre. 

“The thing is, behind the scenes, the club are fantastic,” Tommy says. “I would say, they treat Josh better than Verona did. 

“Josh loves the club, loves the people. He absolutely feels at home.”

Sunday 4.05pm

A little under 24 hours later, the scene is calmer. Tommy and Josh are on the couch in the apartment, having just watched the final minutes of the weekend’s last Serie B clash. 

Spezia have thrown away a 2-0 lead in stoppage time to draw with Mantova, a result that confirms Sassuolo’s place in Serie A next season. 

A camera catches the moment, father and son with their fists clenched in celebrations, while friends pose in the tops Josh had worn the night before against Modena.

“Serie A here we come!”, reads the caption. Tommy is ready to activate full-on tourist mode once again.