McDonald, Scott

Personal

Fullname: Scott McDonald
aka: Skippy, 'Stephen Hawkings'
Born: 21 Aug 1983
Birthplace: Melbourne (Australia)
Height: 5.08
Signed: 5 June 2007
Left: 1 Feb 2010
Fee: £700k
Squad No.: 7
Position: Forward, Centre-forward
Debut:
Internationals: Australia
International Caps: [TBC] caps
International Goals: [...] goals

Summary

Agreed a transfer in March 2007 and signed in June [BBC]
Left to Middlesborough in Feb 2010.

Biog

Born to a Scottish family in Australia Scott McDonald was a boyhood long distance Celtic fan who began his career in his native land with Gippsland Falcons.

After impressing at youth level he sealed a dream move to English Premiership side Southampton in 2000 after the Saints manager Gordon Strachan snapped up the promising teenager as an apprentice.

McDonald was limited to only two games for Southampton during his two years there and as a result moved to Huddersfield on loan for a season. Another loan spell at Bournemouth then followed and with no sign of a brealthrough at the Saints the Aussie packed his bags and in 2003 completed a switch to Milton Keynes Dons. It was to prove another miserable move for the Melbourne-born forward.

Next season, 2004/05 season, McDonald made what would be a life changing switch to a Motherwell side managed by Terry Butcher. Scott was given a regular start with the Steelmen and he rewarded his manager with plenty of goals. McDonald would really hit the headlines in the now infamous season-ending match against Celtic at Fir Park, where his double in the last five minutes ended Celtic's title hopes and gifted the title to Rangers. McDonald was now a huge fans favourite at Motherwell and his reputation was boosted further with continued impressive displays.

A move to a bigger stage seemed inevitable and in January 2007 a bid of around £350k from Rangers was knocked back by Motherwell from Rangers. The Ibrox club were expected to make another move for the forward in the summer but in March Celtic and Motherwell agreed a fee in the region of £700k, and he was on his way to fulfilling a long-lived dream.

McDonald - once more managed by Strachan - made his anticipated debut in the Luzhniki Stadium, where he set up Paul Hartley to secure a vital draw away to Spartak Moscow in the 3rd Qualification Round of the Champions League. He then scored his first competitive goal in the return leg, where he opened the scoring in the 1-1 draw at Celtic Park against Moscow, where Celtic progressed in penalties. His first SPL goal came against St Mirren where he scored in the 5-1 rout away to the Saints. McDonald, Scott - Kerrydale Street

Expected by many fans to be a squad player McDonald established himself as a first team starter. An irritant of a forward, the man christened 'Skippy' proved to be areal thorn in the side of opposition defences and his knack of bagging key goals made sure that his role in "Black Sunday" was forgiven if not fogotten.

In a dream debut season he would score back-to-back hat-tricks at Celtic Park, including one against his former club Motherwell, and on a wonderful Champions League night at Parkhead he nabbed a last minute winner against the current Champions; AC Milan.

McDonald finished the season as top scorer in the SPL, scoring an impressive 25 goals. Along with this, Scott was nominated for the SPFA Player of the Year Award, but was beaten to it by teammate Aiden McGeady. Scott also finished runner up in the Kerrydale Street Player of the Year, again finishing a close second to eventual winner Aiden McGeady.

McDonald's international career had also taken off and he was now a regular in the Socceroos squad. McDonald had represented his country at different levels, with appearances at U-17, U-20 and U-23 level. Now a regular at full international level Scott was named named Australian FourFourTwo magazine's Overseas Player of the Year in March 2008.

After a great season, we all expect more of the same. How we were to be let down in many ways. In June 2008, McDonald signed a new 5 year contract [BBC], and in return he came back for pre-season way overweight like some Oompaloompa from Willy Wonka's factory. When many were told at first of his weight, they countered that he was stocky, but then they actually saw the new Skippy in the flesh! Anyhow, he slowly lost the weight in time but Celtic had a disappointing start to the season and his form was partly the cause of this.

McDonald - Goal celebration that he has lost his fat excess...

McDonald - Goal celebration that he has lost his fat excess...

One of the encouraging voices to help him get back into shape was the inevitable barracking of the support, which led to him in one comical celebration showing us the results (patting his flatter tummy), to much laughter from him and the support (although he was still carrying some timber). Shows a good sense of humour, but there were few laughing or happy with his remaining form over the season.

The early poor form was made up with some stellar goals against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League and a cracker v Rangers at Ibrox in a 1-0 win in January. His return over the whole season was quite poor compared to the last.

Georgiou Samaras was brought in for competition for Skippy, but he was a poor makeshift for Skippy and that was shown over the long haul. Skippy simply was way ahead of him in ability, but he'd become a frustrating character on the pitch. He seemed to mope and moan when passes didn't go his way and there were insinuations that he didn't get on with his co-striker (Samaras). It didn't help matters, although it was not the reason for the loss of the league title in 2008-09 but only contributed to it. The reason for that league title defeat goes a lot deeper but the manager should have not let Skippy off the leash, and the club suffered for it.

Many have put it down that the new bumper contract of five years was the reason why his form and guard dropped, making him cocksure that he'd already made it! In truth, few disagreed with the bumper contract when it was awarded, so the fault is likely more down to Skippy's attitude (post-contract) than the management in awarding it.

Under the new manager (Tony Mowbray), Skippy had a good run of games and was a certain first starter. His haul was superior to his colleagues, scoring some great goals by nipping in for the odd one or two, but there was a bit of clash with the new manager (or as he later put it they were not on the same "wavelength"). Mowbray had a poor first six months in the new job as manager and after going way behind in the league had made it clear that he wanted a clear-out if things didn't improve. Skippy was one of the most expensive assets and so was a target to sell in order to raise funds. In February 2010, former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan decided to take Skippy for Middlesborough for an undisclosed fee (estimated at £3.5m). He was gone, and many bemoaned his loss despite their frustration with him during some of his time at the club.

A quality player who let his form and ability go a bit. He had the ability to steal goals from nothing although did bemoan others too often on the pitch when he really should have looked to his own form (he was a bit too crabbitt at times). A bit of a hunskelper too, scoring some important goals against the Huns which likely are going to be the highlight of his time at Celtic.

We hope him all the best at his new club. He deserves to do well, just hope he can stay away from the barbee's and KFC.

Playing Career

Club	From	To	Fee	League		Scottish/FA Cup		League cup		Other
Middlesbro	01/02/2010		est £3.5m	No appearance data available
Celtic	30/07/2007	01/02/2010	£ 700000	84 (4)	51	7 (0)	4	7 (1)	4	19 (6)	5
Motherwell	06/01/2004	30/07/2007	Free	96 (12)	42	5 (2)	2	10 (0)	1	0 (0)	0
MK Dons	19/08/2003	19/09/2003	Monthly	0 (2)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Bournemouth	27/03/2003	19/08/2003	Loan	3 (4)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (1)	0
Huddersfield	03/07/2002	29/10/2002	Loan	7 (6)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (0)	0
Southampton	01/08/2001	31/05/2003	Trainee	0 (2)	0	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

2009/10 Statistics
TEAM	Competition	GS	SB	G	A	SH	SG	FC	FS	YC	RC
Celtic	Scottish CIS Insurance Cup	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Celtic	Scottish Premier League	16	2	9	2	35	18	11	16	1	0
Celtic	UEFA Europa League	4	1	1	0	7	4	5	3	1	0
2009/10 Season Totals		23	5	12	2	42	22	16	19	2	0
2008/09 Statistics
TEAM	Competition	GS	SB	G	A	SH	SG	FC	FS	YC	RC
Celtic	Scottish Premier League	33	1	16	7	71	34	38	52	5	0
Celtic	Scottish CIS Insurance Cup	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Celtic	Scottish Cup	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
2008/09 Season Totals		43	2	18	7	71	34	38	52	6	0
2007/08 Statistics
TEAM	Competition	GS	SB	G	A	SH	SG	FC	FS	YC	RC
Celtic	UEFA Champions League	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Celtic	Scottish Cup	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Celtic	Scottish Premier League	35	1	25	6	90	56	41	75	5	0
2007/08 Season Totals		39	1	26	6	90	56	41	75	5	0

GS: Games Started, SB: Used as Substitute, G: Goals, A: Assists, SH: Shots, SG: Shots on goal, YC: Yellow Cards, RC: Red Cards,
FC: Fouls Committed, FS: Fouls Suffered, SV: Saves, OF: Offsides, W: Wins, D: Draws, L: Losses

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Premier League

2007-08

Scottish League Cup

2008-09

Pictures

Scott McDonald Pics

Interviews

Interview with Age newspaper (Aussie newspaper) (Apr 08)

Quotes

"The fans here are fanatical about the game. It's their life: they eat, drink and sleep football. It's pretty hard to walk down the street and not be noticed. Sometimes you'd prefer just to escape all that but you appreciate you're fortunate to be living this opportunity. It's a nice feeling when somebody comes and asks for your autograph."
Scott McDonald (Apr 08)

"Scott McDonald the most intelligent man in the world, Stephen Hawkings him [the Phyics legend]. He knows everything, everytime you tell him something, he knows it done it, seen it been it, that's why we call him Stephen Hawkings. That man can do anything!"
WGS jokingly (all in humour)on his Aussie striker Scott McDonald (Radio Clyde One interview, Dec 08)

"To play for Celtic again would be unbelievable. It was a tough decision but it was time to move on when you're not really on the same wavelength as the manager"
Scott McDonald interview with the Times (Apr 10)

KDS Honours
MOTM Winners 2007-08
15-Aug-07	Moscow 1-1 Celtic	Champions League Qual
26-Sep-07	Dundee 1-2 Celtic	CIS League Cup
29-Sep-07	Celtic 3-0 Dundee Utd	SPL
Sep-07	Sep-07 Player of the Month
07-Oct-07	Gretna 1-2 Celtic	SPL
27-Oct-07	Celtic 3-0 Motherwell	SPL
Oct-07	Oct-07 Player of the Month
03-Nov-07	Kilmarnock 1-2 Celtic	SPL
27-Apr-08	Celtic 3-2 Rangers	SPL
MOTM Winners 2008-09
27-Dec-08	Rangers 0-1 Celtic	SPL
Dec-08	Dec-08 Joint Player of the Month
04-Mar 09	Kilmarnock 1-2 Celtic	SPL
Mar-09	Mar-09 Player of the Month
02-May-09	Aberdeen 1-3 Celtic	SPL
MOTM Winners 2009-10
08-Nov-09	Falkirk 3-3 Celtic	SPL

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