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
International Goals: ?

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.

Biog

The immensely gifted 'Malky' MacDonald was a Celtic great who is among the most skilled footballers ever to play for the Hoops.

Malcolm was born in South Uist but raised in Glasgow. He signed for the Bhoys in March 1932 from junior side St Anthony's and made a scoring debut, netting both goals in a 2-0 league victory at Partick Thistle on April 30th.

With a cool head, wonderful control and fantastic vision Malky 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.

He could create and score goals with seemingly consummate ease but Malky was equally a battler who possessed the awareness and ability to thwart the attacks of opponents. In season 1937-38 MacDonald subtle but masterful play helped mastermind Celtic's triumph in the Scottish league championship and the memorable capture of the Empire Exhibition Trophy.

Sadly his Celtic career suffered firstly due to chronic cartilage trouble starting around Oct 1935 and then due to the outbreak of World War Two 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 3 hours a week. Not easy. However, for a match played at Wembley (for the international Red Cross) on 4th Oct 1941 he got to shake hands with Winston Churchill!


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

A great servant to the Celtic cause Malky played in every outfield position except centre-forward and no matter where he was asked to play he did so like a master. He stayed with us even though the War Years the club performed dreadfully.All the time he played for Celtic he lived in 272 Allison Street in the Celtic stronghold of Govanhill. He eventually left Parkhead for Kilmarnock in 1945 after 325 appearances for the Bhoys and 50 goals.

He would later 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".

The support was left broken hearted when he left.

Malky MacDonald - a class act and an all time Celtic hero.

[...needs heavily expanded, 400 games but too short a biog so far....]

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 October 22, 1966, and beat Northern Ireland 2-1 on November 16, 1966. 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.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

[...]

Pictures

• Player Pics

Links

• Celtic & World War Two

Obituary

The Herald (Glasgow); Sep 28, 1999; Bob Crampsey; p. 18
(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.