MacDonald, Malcolm

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Personal

Fullname: Malcolm MacDonald
aka: Malky MacDonald, Calum MacDonald
Born: 26 October 1913
Died: 26 September 1999
Birthplace: South Uist
Signed: 19 March 1932
Left: 31 Dec 1945 to Kilmarnock (after loan spell on 15 May 1940 & 27 Oct 1945 with Killie)
Position: Utility
Debut: Partick Thistle 2-0 Celtic, League, 30 April 1932
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 3 wartime caps; 1 Scottish League XI cap
International Goals: 0

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Trivia

• Interim manager of Scotland briefly in 1966.
• Manager with Kilmarnock after playing (two spells), where they had a good run under him winning promotion and reaching cup finals.

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Biog

With a cool head, wonderful control and fantastic vision Malky MacDonald possessed an all-round game which was virtually unrivalled by his peers throughout Scotland and although originally deemed a centre-half MacDonald’s versatile qualities were such that he would spend his Celtic career as a utility player. One commentator described him as being blessed with excess talent.

He could create and score goals with seemingly consummate ease but Malky MacDonald was equally a battler who possessed the awareness and ability to thwart the attacks of opponents. Sadly his Celtic career suffered firstly due to chronic cartilage trouble starting around Oct 1935, and we lost him for much of two seasons, with only a sprinkling of games with him in the side during that time. This lost Malky MacDonald the chance to play a greater role in Celtic’s league title victory of 1935-36.

However, he was to come back and play a strong part in further honours. In season 1937-38 MacDonald subtle but masterful play helped mastermind Celtic’s triumph in the Scottish league championship and he was to be part of the memorable capture of the Empire Exhibition Trophy. Taking in that Malky was filling in for the much lauded Willie Buchan after his departure in 1937, Malky MacDonald had quite a lot to live up to and fill in that season. He ably achieved that, and some would even say that Malky gave the board the excuse to have been able to sell the great Willie Buchan in the first place.

With the manager he likely had an interesting relationship. Manager Willie Maley was at the tail-end of his long 43 management career, and in truth he had let things slip badly in his last years. Practically, the real first team manager was Jimmy McMenemy, but formally it was Willie Maley. Malky MacDonald was said to stay on the tram for one stop longer if Willie Maley was sharing the same train, that was to ensure he didn’t have to walk to the ground. Malky MacDonald didn’t believe they’d have convival chats together, with Willie Maley stating at one time to him very formally: “Now remember, Malcolm, if you don’t do what I tell you, you won’t be here.” However, Malky MacDonald was there at Celtic and remained even long after Maley’s departure. Malky’s anecdote of Maley’s style at Celtic is quite interesting in depicting the manner of management at the club:

“He was in his tower, but when he came down from it you didn’t wait long, you got yourself out of the road. I’ve never known him to come in and wax eloquent about a performance. He could always pick the Achilles heel and lambast you for doing this or that or the next thing. Some weeks the secretary [James Maloney] would come in with the wages and say to me the boss still had mine. I knew them so I would then have to goto into the office.”

It shouldn’t be taken that there was any animosity as it was more just Maley’s straight-laced style and nothing more. If anything Maley did help out Malky MacDonald very much too. As talented players have a knack of doing, they can overdo things which hamper their game by their having too much ability. Maley used to watch for what was best for the side, and used to advise him to release the ball more rather than just dribble it. These sort of hints/help can go a long way, add it all up and it makes for the great development of a player.

Again though, events thwarted his career when the outbreak of World War Two began, and consequently the horrors of war meant that he never was really afforded the opportunity to fulfil his full potential in a strong Celtic side. He combined his war duty of working long night shifts by doing training of around three hours a week. Not easy for anyone, and with a board that was incompetent & meddling (regardless of external events), he was not to see further major honours at Celtic.

At the international level things were different, and his ability was rewarded to play for his country. At a match played at Wembley (for the international Red Cross) on 4th Oct 1941, Malky McDonald was awarded a place in the Scotland side v England where he even got to shake hands with PM Winston Churchill! In those days, that was quite an honour.

(The photo is at Wembley in 1941 for the annual England v Scotland fixture, showing Malky MacDonald shaking hands with Winston Churchill)

A great servant to the Celtic cause, Malky MacDonald played in every outfield position except centre-forward and no matter where he was asked to play he did so like a master. Some would argue that this ability to play anywhere gave the club too much leeway so they didn’t got out and buy or rear more players, something that the then ailing club should have looked to do. He stayed with the club even through the War Years despite the club performing dreadfully through it all. All the time he played for Celtic he lived in 272 Allison Street in the Celtic stronghold of Govanhill.

He was very much admired at Celtic by his colleagues too, with Matt Lynch said to have proclaimed that Malky MacDonald was the greatest player he had ever seen in the hoops, even better than heroes of the later times such as Jinky, Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain. Quite a statement.

Malky MacDonald eventually left Parkhead for Kilmarnock in 1945 after 325 appearances for the Bhoys and 50 goals. What more could be asked of him for having stuck by Celtic through those war years? He suffered through those years and helped to buffer the club up as it stumbled along.

The support was left broken hearted when he left, but sadly things were to worsen at the club after his departure. He was to leave Celtic with far less honours than a player of his abilities deserved, but he savoured his time as he put it himself later on:

“I look back at my time at Celtic with great affection on the 14 years I spent with the club and wonderful colleagues I had. We were only temporary custodians of Celtic’s greatness and I would not change them for anything.”

Post-Celtic

Malky MacDonald played only a brief number of games with Kilmarnock before moving down south to have a long spell at Brentford.

He would later to Kilmarnock manage the Ayrshire club and even had a brief spell as interim manager of Scotland in 1966. But whatever he achieved after departing Celtic, Malky MacDonald wished for only one thing:

“I just want to be remembered as Malky MacDonald of Celtic”.

Malcolm MacDonald – a class act and an all time Celtic hero.

He helped bring success to Kilmarnock in a golden era for the club, with a League Cup final appearance in 1952 and a Scottish Cup final appearance in 1957. He had turned the club around to win promotion to the top tier in 1953/54.

He returned to Brentford as manager in 1957, and then back to Scotland with Kilmarnock once more in 1965.

After his retirement from football management, MacDonald went into business as a physiotherapist and chiropodist in Troon.

He passed away in Sep 1999, and is buried in Ardrossan Cemetery, Sorbie Road.

On his passing, respected Scottish football journalist and historian Bob Crampsey put it very aptly about Malcolm MacDonald:

“A synonym for grace … blessed – or perhaps cursed – with almost an excess of talent … above all the purist’s footballer.”

Brief spell as interim Scotland Manager

John Prentice was sacked as Scotland manager towards the end of 1966 and Kilmarnock manager Malcolm MacDonald agreed to help the SFA by becoming interim manager of the national team until a full-time replacement could be found. In his brief spell in charge, Scotland drew 1-1 with Wales on 22nd October 1966, and beat Northern Ireland 2-1 on 16th November 1966 (both goals scored by Celtic players).

Former Scotland goalkeeper Bobby Brown, who was then manager of St Johnstone, was appointed full-time team manager at a meeting of the SFA on February 6, 1967 and, in his first game in charge, Scotland beat world champions England 3-2 at Wembley.

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Quotes

“One thing was drummed into us. You never did anything that brought the club’s name into disrepute.”
Malcolm MacDonald

“Celtic is not just a club, it is a heritage.”
Malcolm MacDonald

“I look back at my time at Celtic with great affection on the 14 years I spent with the club and wonderful colleagues I had. We were only temporary custodians of Celtic’s greatness and I would not change them for anything.”
Malcolm MacDonald

“My father was a wee highland man who was not very worldly and didn’t know anything about football. He knew his son played the game, but that was about all. Sometimes he would come and watch me play, but mostly he worked on a Saturday. I was already a schoolboy internationalist when luckily some of the teachers took an interest in me. They were all great Celtic supporters and took me along to Celtic Park for trials and all the rest of it. The thing that impressed me most of all was that I could get into Celtic Park to watch the games without paying. I was still at secondary school when I got word to turn up to play against Partick Thistle at Firhill. I was given a game at outside left, and all the lads accepted me even though I was just a rookie. I can always remember one who would say to me, ‘If I have the ball and you want it Malcolm just shout for it and I’ll pass, but make sure it’s the right bloody shout!”
Malcolm MacDonald (Source: http://www.killiefc.com/DoYouRemember/MalkyMacDonald.htm)

“A synonym for grace … blessed – or perhaps cursed – with almost an excess of talent … above all the purist’s footballer.”
Bob Crampsey (football journalist) on Malky MacDonald

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Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

• 1935-36, 1937-38

• 1938

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Pictures

• Player Pics

Links

• Celtic & World War Two

Books

• Malcolm MacDonald – Forgotten Star/Rionnag Chaillte by Alex O’Henley (2013)

Articles

Obituary

(Copyright Scottish Media Newspapers, Ltd. Sep 28, 1999 )

Malcolm MacDonald, footballer; born October 26, 1913, died September 26, 1999

MALCOLM MacDonald, Callum to an older generation of Celtic supporters, died on Sunday and with him went the last direct link to the great Celtic side of 1938 which won the Empire Exhibition Trophy.

His career at Celtic Park was in many respects quite astonishing. He became a Celtic player in the early 1930s and at a time when that club was characterised by eccentric brilliance on the field and often chaotic administration off it. When he arrived, Celtic had splendid inside forwards such as Charlie Napier and the two Thomsons who could play on the wing or inside as necessity demanded. It was made plain to young MacDonald that his apprenticeship would be quite lengthy and it must have seemed more so in that, incredible to state, Celtic did not continuously run a reserve side between the wars.

Although he played for the first team in the middle 1930s and won a league championship medal in 1936 he was never absolutely sure of a first-team place until Willie Buchan was transferred to Blackpool following the cup win of 1937 in which MacDonald did not play.

All through his life as a footballer he was blessed – or perhaps cursed – with almost an excess of talent. He had an astonishing amount of time in which to play. No-one ever saw him flustered on the field and he could play anywhere. By nature, and perhaps preference, he was an inside-forward, but he served his club and country in various positions. He played both full-back roles, was a majestic and composed centre half who was given to beating opponents inside his own six-yard box and in his early days he was quite a prolific scorer, being one of the few men who have scored a hat-trick in an Old Firm league match.

He was above all the purist’s footballer. The absolute highlight of his career was Celtic’s victory at Ibrox against Everton in the final of the Empire Exhibition Tournament in 1938. There is a poignant irony in the fact that the only other survivor of that team, Matt Lynch, himself died only a few days ago. Malcolm MacDonald was a synonym for grace, the kind of grace that perhaps Gordon Smith of Hibernian best exemplified. He was in his mid-twenties and the world seemed to be at his feet.

Then came the Second World War and, more than perhaps anyone else, Malcolm MacDonald was the victim of his club’s ridiculous attitude to wartime football. The 1938 side was allowed to break up and little or no effort was made to replace them by players of an equivalent calibre.

It was his melancholy fate to spend the next six years playing in the worst Celtic sides of all time with only Bobby Hogg and Jimmy Delaney providing memories of better days. Even then he won three wartime caps against England and typically the three were in different positions: right-back, right-half, and left-half.

He played on for a little after the war and turned out for Brentford, a club he would later manage but he was about to begin a very successful second career this time as manager of Kilmarnock in 1950.

When he took over the club was in deep trouble. Kilmarnock had been forced to close down in 1940 and had never really recovered from their compulsory six years out of football. MacDonald used to tell how he had gone round all the Scottish clubs seeking players on loan to get the club going again. He found no help from anywhere except in the unlikely figure of Bill Struth of Rangers whose help Malcolm MacDonald gratefully acknowledged even some 30 years later. He was an academic footballer through and through and would not yield to those who wanted Killie to kick their way back to the First Division. He was a perfectionist in the way that Bobby Ancell of Motherwell was a perfectionist. It was not enough to win, it must be done with style, especially in his favourite positions of wing-half and inside forward.

A generous Kilmarnock board gave him time, and promotion came in 1954 after which he consolidated the club’s status in the First Division for three more years. When he took over Brentford in 1957 he had left a fine platform for the more truculent Willie Waddell to build on and between them the two men, very different but both excellent managers, made Kilmarnock a major force in Scottish football.

Quiet, courteous, calm, Malcolm MacDonald was anything but the bristling football manager of legend. He took charge of the Scotland side for a brief period but was happier with the day-to-day involvement at club level. He will be remembered for his almost languorous grace and the way in which he, alone on the park, seemed to be playing in slow motion. He was the living proof of one of the football doctrines of the time. You did not presume to play wing- half or inside-forward unless you were highly skilled.

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