Donaldson, Andrew

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Personal

Fullname: Andrew Clark Donaldson
aka: Andy Donaldson, Andrew Donaldson
Born: 8 November 1886
Died: 14 June 1980
Birthplace: Bothwell, Lanarkshire
Signed: 29 April 1911
Left: 1 February 1912
Position: Inside-Left
Debut: Celtic 5-2 Third Lanark, Charity Cup, 6 May 1911
Internationals: N/A

Biog

“Donaldson (of Airdrie) is an artful dodger!”
Scottish Referee newspaper 1913

Inside-left Andy Donaldson signed for Celtic in April 1911 from Airdrie. He was apparently “the personification of pluck“. Better to have it than not. He was also said to have been a quiet person, possibly might have been as he was young when he came to Celtic, although reputedly did his talking on the pitch instead.

He appears to have been a precocious talent, as when he was with Ashfield, he scored two goals for Scotland juniors against Ireland at Celtic Park, 17 March 1906. Also capped against England juniors at Villa Park on 7 April 1906.

At Celtic, he was a more than competent attacker, making a scoring first team debut on 6th May 1911 as Celtic defeated Third Lanark 5-2 in a Charity Cup tie at Parkhead.

However with competition for a starting spot from the likes of Travers, McMenemy and Gallacher, Andy Donaldson’s time in the Hoops was short lived. He was a regular starter in the first half of season 1911-12, but took time to find his feet in scoring, but once he got going he hit a rich vein of form from around October to December 1911, scoring six goals in the league, including his debut goal being a winner over Aberdeen.

Pat Travers was preferred for the second half for some reason, not that Pat Travers was to become a major success as a player at Celtic. So possibly a poor switch. On the other hand, Celtic had a rough first half of the season and a better second half of the season, so whatever changes Celtic made had a positive impact, albeit too late as Rangers still finished ahead of Celtic to take the title.

One great experience for him was being part of the Celtic squad that toured Central Europe pre-war, and got to play matches in Dresden, Prague, Budapest and Vienna on this 1911 tour. Possibly he also got to meet & speak to Celtic’s founder Brother Walfrid at Folkestone on the return on 30th May 1911.

Andy Donaldson’s last two games were a defeat to Third Lanark (1-0) followed by a nil-nil draw with Airdrie. Possibly a little frustrating for him, as just two days after being dropped, Celtic then played Rangers in a Ne’er Derby match and won 3-0 with a hat-trick by Jimmy McGrory.

He returned to Airdrie in February 1912 after 17 league appearances and six goals, a commendable total, and possibly Celtic missed a trick here.

At his second spell at Airdrie, he scored 4 goals in a single game v Rangers on 4th January 1915, enough we can assume to make him popular with Celts even though he’d long left by this point. The great managerial legend Alex Ferguson stated that he was the first opposition player to score a hat-trick at Ibrox, but Andy Donaldson did so long before he did, and we believe Andy Donaldson was the first ever (in a league fixture at least).

He was to be a long-term regular at Airdrie, having three spells at the club, but also played for Motherwell, Third Lanark, St Johnstone & Dykehead, hanging up his boots in 1922.

Despite his long tenure in the top tier of Scottish football, he never managed to play in a major final but did win the local Lanarkshire Cup with Airdrie six times. He played around 400 games for Airdrie with a great goal scoring record, and so easily ranks as a legend for that club.

Andy Donaldson later worked as a trainer at Motherwell, including during the club’s most successful period in the early 1930s. Motherwell FC seems to have been a big love for him, as he long remained on the ground staff at the club into his 80s.

He lived a long life and died in 1980 in Cleland Hospital, aged 93. He is buried in Airbles Cemetery (Motherwell) which is not far from Motherwell’s home ground.

Playing Career

APPEARANCES LEAGUE SCOTTISH CUP LEAGUE CUP EUROPE TOTAL
1911-12 17 0 N/A N/A 17
Goals: 6 – – – 6

Honours with Celtic

none

Pictures

Notes

  • His biog pic in Alphabet of the Celts (see below pic) is definitely wrong, see: https://twitter.com/joebloggscity/status/1511267565372329987?s=20&t=NHbaO5xquw9v5xOqEOanrQ. The pic wrongly used in that book is actually that of Alec Donaldson of Bolton.
  • His date of birth of 5 June 1884 is also wrong in Alphabet of the Celts. A relative has said he died in 1980 aged 93. Confirmed he was born on 8 November 1886 in Bothwell.
The picture is of Andrew Donaldson’s Celtic contract signed by both Willie Maley and James Kelly.

 

From Alphabet of the Celts book

Please note the pic used in the biog below is incorrect, and is is actually that of Alec Donaldson of Bolton.