Donachie was born in Glasgow (originally from the Gorbals, he grew up in Castlemilk and attended King's Park Secondary School,[3] but began his football career in England as a junior with Manchester City, turning professional in December 1968.
He returned to England in September 1981, joining Norwich City for a fee of £200,000, but rejoined Portland in March 1982.
In May 2001, Royle was sacked, but Donachie opted to stay at Manchester City as first team coach under new manager Kevin Keegan.
[5] He resigned from his post at Hillsborough on 28 October 2002 to link up again with Joe Royle, who by now was manager of Ipswich Town.
He was sacked by Millwall in October 2007, after a run of poor results left the club bottom of Football League One.
On 6 February 2014, Donachie resigned after it was alleged that he had hit reserve player Remie Streete following a 2–0 defeat against Sunderland in an under-21s match.
[13] On 6 December 2014 Donachie and manager Paul Murray were sacked by Hartlepool, following an FA Cup defeat to non-league Blyth Spartans.