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Malcolm Macdonald

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This article is about the English footballer. For the British politician and diplomat, see Malcolm MacDonald. For other people named Malcolm Macdonald, see Malcolm MacDonald (disambiguation).

Malcolm Macdonald
Personal information
Full name Malcolm Ian Macdonald
Date of birth (1950-01-07) 7 January 1950 (age 74)
Place of birth London, England
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1967–1968 Tonbridge Angels 74 (11)
1968–1969 Fulham 13 (5)
1969–1971 Luton Town 88 (49)
1971–1976 Newcastle United 187 (95)
1976–1979 Arsenal 84 (42)
1977 South Melbourne Hellas 3 (3)
1979 Djurgården 9 (2)
Total 424 (207)
International career
1972 England U23 4 (4)
1972–1975 England 14 (6)
Managerial career
1980–1984 Fulham
1987–1988 Huddersfield Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Malcolm Ian Macdonald (born 7 January 1950) is an English former professional footballer, manager and media figure. Nicknamed "Supermac", Macdonald was a quick, powerfully built and prolific goalscorer. He played for Fulham, Luton Town, Newcastle United, Arsenal and England. Macdonald is Newcastle's fifth-highest goalscorer of all time. He was top scorer in the English First Division with Newcastle in 1975 and with Arsenal in 1977.

Club career

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Early years and Fulham

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Born in Finlay Street, Fulham, Macdonald attended the same school (Sloane Grammar school on Hortensia Rd in Chelsea) as former Genesis and GTR guitarist Steve Hackett.[1][need quotation to verify] Macdonald started his career as a full back before switching to centre forward. He started his career at Barnet.[2] After playing for non-league side Tonbridge, his schoolboy hero Bobby Robson paid £1,000 to sign him for Fulham in 1968 just after their relegation from the Football League First Division.[3]

Luton Town

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A year later, Macdonald moved to Luton Town. At Luton he scored 58 times in 101 matches.[citation needed]

Newcastle United

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Newcastle United manager Joe Harvey signed Macdonald for £180,000 in the summer of 1971. He made an immediate impact by scoring a hat-trick on his home debut against Liverpool.[4] It was in this game that MacDonald earned the nickname "Supermac", which came from a chant by the Newcastle fans to the tune of "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar, namely, "Supermac, superstar, how many goals have you scored so far?"[2]

In his first season Newcastle were bottom of the table on 30 October 1971 after Everton handed them their fifth consecutive defeat of the season. That match was the Newcastle debut of Tony Green. With Green and Macdonald teaming up effectively up front for Newcastle, the team prospered, with an unbeaten run of five wins and two draws, climbing up the table. They finished the league eleventh, with Macdonald scoring 30 goals in 52 games in his first season to be Newcastle's top scorer in 1972.[5] He top scored again in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976. He was also the First Division's top scorer for that 1975–76 season.[6][7][8]

Macdonald scored twice, defeating Burnley in the 1973–74 FA Cup semi-final. In the 1974 FA Cup final, Newcastle lost 3–0 to Liverpool.[9]

Macdonald set up an equalising goal for Alan Gowling in the 1976 League Cup final at Wembley, but Newcastle went on to lose 2–1 to Manchester City.[10]

Arsenal

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Macdonald left Newcastle for Arsenal in 1976, for an unusual fee of £333,333.34. In December 1976, he scored a hat-trick for his new club against Newcastle in a 5–3 win at Highbury. He was the club's top scorer for two consecutive seasons and was the top scorer for the First Division in 1977. Macdonald, at the time not fully fit, got to the FA Cup final of 1978 after scoring twice in the semi-final against Orient at Stamford Bridge. He earned a runners-up medal in the final after a 1–0 defeat to Ipswich Town. At the start of the 1978–79 season, he suffered a knee injury in a League Cup match against Rotherham, an injury from which he was unable to completely recover.[11][7][12]

South Melbourne Hellas

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After completing the English First Division season with Arsenal, Macdonald was lured to Australia in 1977 to play for South Melbourne Hellas in the National Soccer League.[13]

He played three games during the middle of the 1977 National Soccer League season, scoring on his debut against West Adelaide, playing at home against Brisbane Lions and most notably scoring twice against St George (who fielded former Arsenal star Charlie George), which drew a capacity crowd to Middle Park, providing a rare high point to an otherwise poor season for Hellas.[14]

Djurgården

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Macdonald spent a couple of months in Sweden with Djurgården, after which he announced his retirement from playing at the premature age of 29 in August 1979. In his footballing career, Macdonald scored a total of 193 goals.[15]

International career

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While at Newcastle, he made his England debut against Wales at Wembley Stadium. Macdonald was on the England scoresheet for the first time in a friendly 2–0 win over then World Champions West Germany.

On 16 April 1975, in a European Championship qualifier also held at Wembley Stadium, Macdonald scored all five goals in a 5–0 victory for England against Cyprus equalling the record for the most goals scored in a single game by an England player. This feat has not been repeated since by any English footballer.[16] Although three pre-war players, Howard Vaughton, Steve Bloomer and Willie Hall, had previously scored five for England, Macdonald was the first, and remains the only, player to do so in a competitive international. His feat spawned the newspaper headline "SuperMac 5, Cyprus 0".[8]

In total he played 14 times for England scoring six goals.[citation needed]

Managerial career

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After retirement from playing, Macdonald returned to Fulham as a manager in 1980. His time at Craven Cottage was initially successful, with promotion to the Second Division being achieved in 1982.[17]

In the 1982–83 season, they appeared certainties for promotion to the First Division for the majority of the season, but a slump in the later stages of the season allowed their lead to wither away and they finished 4th. The following season began as a struggle before a second half turnaround saw them into mid-table safety, with Macdonald, even before the season's end leaving the club in April 1984.[17]

He returned to management at Huddersfield Town in 1987, but his time in charge proved unfruitful as the side were relegated from the Second Division in dismal fashion, including a 10–1 defeat to Manchester City.

As of May 2022, Macdonald is the president of North Shields F.C.[18]

Media career

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Macdonald appeared on the TV show Superstars in 1975, where he ran 100m in 10.9 seconds.[19]

Macdonald worked extensively for Real Radio North East, presenting, firstly in 2000, the Legends Football Phone-In, alongside Bernie Slaven and Micky Horswill. At the end of the 2011–12 season the programme was axed from Real Radio and then made its way upon Star Radio North East, so continuing in a similar format until 2014.[20][21] Macdonald also presented an interview series for the Century Radio Network titled Upfront With Malcolm Macdonald, in which he talked to famous players such as Ian Wright, Joe Royle and Peter Beardsley among others.[22]

He also writes a regular column for the retro football magazine Backpass.[citation needed]

In 2011, Macdonald was strongly critical of Newcastle United's decision to change their stadium name from St James' Park to the Sports Direct Arena. Macdonald said: "It seems antagonistic. It's not only part of the football club's heritage, but part of the heritage of the city."[23]

Outside football

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After a failed business venture and divorcing his second wife, he struggled with the aftermath of his injury. Macdonald said that the pain from his long-standing knee injury led to an increasing dependence on alcohol. He eventually gave up drinking in 1997.[24]

Macdonald is married to Carol, the former wife of Brian Johnson.[25]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Other[26] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Fulham[27] 1968–69 Second Division 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 5
Luton Town[28] 1969–70 Third Division 46 25 3 1 5 2 0 0 54 28
1970–71 Second Division 42 24 2 4 3 2 0 0 47 30
Total 88 49 5 5 8 4 0 0 101 58
Newcastle United[28] 1971–72 First Division 42 23 2 2 2 1 6 4 52 30
1972–73 First Division 35 17 2 1 1 1 9 5 47 24
1973–74 First Division 29 15 9 7 2 3 4 3 44 28
1974–75 First Division 42 21 2 0 6 6 8 5 58 32
1975–76 First Division 39 19 7 4 7 1 3 0 56 24
Total 187 95 22 14 18 12 30 17 257 138
Arsenal[28] 1976–77 First Division 41 25 3 3 6 1 0 0 50 29
1977–78 First Division 39 15 6 7 7 4 0 0 52 26
1978–79[29] First Division 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 6 2
Total 84 42 9 10 14 5 1 0 108 57
Djurgården 1979 Allsvenskan 9 2 0 0 — 0 0 9 2
Career total 381 193 36 29 40 21 31 17 488 260

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
England Under 23[30] 1972 4 4
Total 4 4
England[30] 1972 3 0
1973 1 0
1974 3 0
1975 7 6
Total 14 6
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Macdonald goal.
List of international goals scored by Malcolm Macdonald[30]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 March 1975 Wembley Stadium, London, England  West Germany 2–0 2–0 Friendly
2 16 April 1975  Cyprus 1–0 5–0 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying
3 2–0
4 3–0
5 4–0
6 5–0

Honours

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Newcastle United

Arsenal

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Bob Harris Show". BBC Radio 2. 17 February 2004.
  2. ^ a b Edwards, Luke (5 January 2018). "Malcolm Macdonald interview: 'They called me Super Mouth when I joined Newcastle because I said I'd score 30 goals in my first season'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Bobby Robson – the top 10 signings". mirror.com.hk. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  4. ^ "Newcastle United v Liverpool, 21 August 1971". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  5. ^ The Joy of six, The Guardian
  6. ^ "Malcolm Macdonald: Profile". NUFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Newcastle legend Malcolm Macdonald turns 65 today". Chronicle Live.co.uk.
  8. ^ a b c "Supermac inducted into hall of fame". NUFoundation.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Football League Greats: Malcolm Macdonald". EFL.com.
  10. ^ "Flu hits soccer teams". Regina Leader-Post. London. Reuters. 1 March 1976. p. 23. Retrieved 25 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Golden Boot Game". Golden Boot Game.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Malcolm Macdonald: Profile". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016.
  13. ^ "South Melbourne Soccer Club - SuperMac - our own import ( 11-03-2000)". 26 April 2001. Archived from the original on 26 April 2001. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Australian Soccer". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Memory Lane". Fulham FC.com.
  16. ^ "Record for most goals in a game - Malcolm McDonald on David Platt & Gary Lineker FATV". Youtube.com.
  17. ^ a b "Managers: Malcolm Macdonald". Fulham FC.com.
  18. ^ Mulligan, Sean (28 May 2022). "Northern League Dinner". North Shields F.C. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Superstars History and Top Facts" (PDF). BBC Sport. bbc.co.uk. 5 November 2004. Retrieved 27 September 2008. No one believed that Macdonald would be able to run that fast again straight away. He ran the race, won it again, and beat his own record in 10.9 seconds. He held the European record for seven years until Des Drummond ran the 100m in 10.85 seconds in the 1982 International Superstars in Hong Kong.
  20. ^ "The Legends radio show to return on Koast Radio". The Journal. 2 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  21. ^ Vickers, Anthony (2 April 2014). "'We've been swimming against the tide for a few years but now it's time to call it a day'". Gazette Live. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  22. ^ "Upfront with Malcolm Macdonald". 100 Century FM.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  23. ^ Starforth, Miles (10 November 2011). "St James' Park renaming will 'antagonise' United fans". Jarrow and Hebburn Gazette. Retrieved 9 March 2013.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ Jackson, Jamie (3 August 2003). "Triumph and despair". The Observer. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  25. ^ Stenning, Paul (2005). AC/DC: Two Sides to Every Glory. Chrome Dreams. p. 240. ISBN 1842403087. Retrieved 25 June 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  26. ^ "Malcolm Macdonald: 1971-79 seasons: (other) games". Toon1892.com.
  27. ^ Malcolm Macdonald's Autobiography "Never Afraid to Miss" gives information on Fulham career stats and some Luton data.
  28. ^ a b c Topps Football Card 1978-79 for Malcolm Macdonald, which gives data for seasons 1970-71 through to 1977-78.
  29. ^ "Arsenal's 1978-79 season". 11v11.com.
  30. ^ a b c d "Malcolm MacDonald: Profile". England Football Online.com.
  31. ^ "The 1976 League Cup Final: An important 40-year retrospect". Outside 90.com. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017.
  32. ^ "1978 - Osbourne's year". BBC.co.uk.
  33. ^ "Football Legends list in full". BBC Sport. 5 August 1998. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  34. ^ "THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE 100 LEGENDS". football-league.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
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