Malcolm Macdonald

Club career

Born in Fulham, London, Macdonald started his career as a full back before switching to centre forward. After playing for non-league side Tonbridge Angels, Bobby Robson paid £1,000 to sign him for Fulham in 1968 just after their relegation from the Football League First Division.

A year later he moved to Luton Town. At Luton he scored 49 times in 88 matches, which caught the eye of Newcastle United manager Joe Harvey, who signed him for £180,000 in the summer of 1971. At Newcastle, his hard work and effort in matches meant he quickly became a firm favourite with the fans. He made an immediate impact in scoring a hat-trick on his home debut against Liverpool. It was in this game that Macdonald earned the nickname Supermac which came from a chant by the Newcastle fans to the tune of Jesus Christ Superstar, being "Supermac, superstar, how many goals have you scored so far?". The striker got Newcastle, with a brace against Burnley F.C. in the Cup semi finals, to the final of the 1974 FA Cup where the club finished runners up on the day. Macdonald was the Toon's top scorer in 1972, and consecutively in 1973, 1974, 1975 & 1976. He also won the First Division's Golden Boot for that 1975-76 season as well.

Macdonald left Newcastle for Arsenal in 1976, for an unusual fee of £333,333.34. He was the club's top scorer for two consecutive seasons and won the golden boot of 1977. Macdonald, at the time not fully fit, got to the FA Cup final of 1978 where he earned a runners up medal. At the start of the 1978–79 season, he unluckily suffered a knee injury in a League Cup match against Rotherham, an ailment which he was unable to completely recover from.

After having spent a couple of months in Sweden with Djurgårdens IF 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 for his clubs all in all.

International career

While at Newcastle, he made his debut for England against that of Wales. Macdonald's name found itself on the 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 Macdonald scored all five goals in a 5–0 victory for England against Cyprus.

Although three pre-war players being Steve Bloomer, Vivian Woodward 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". In total he played a sum of 14 times for the three lions, scoring six times for his country.

Football management

After retirement from playing, he 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.

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.

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. After a failed business venture and divorcing his second wife, he then 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.

Media career

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. MacDonald also presented an interview series for the Century Radio Network titled Upfront With Malcolm MacDonald, wherein he talked to famous players such as Ian Wright, Joe Royle and Peter Beardsley among others.

He also writes a regular column for the retro football magazine Backpass as well.

In 2011, Macdonald was strongly critical of Newcastle'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."

Trivia

Macdonald is married to wife Carol and is the father of seven children. He attended the same school as former Genesis and GTR guitarist Steve Hackett. During the TV show Superstars in 1975, Macdonald ran 100m in 10.9 seconds. Macdonald is now the President of North Shields F.C..

International goals

A

Club

Individual