Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – Malky MacDonald

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The Celtic Star

·26 ottobre 2024

Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – Malky MacDonald

Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter today features Malky MacDonald who was born on this day in 1913…

The late David Potter

Name: MALKY MacDONALD Born: October 26 1913 Died: September 26 1999 Appearances: 388 Goals: 58 Scottish League medals: 1935/36; 1937/38 Scottish Cup medals: 0 Glasgow Cup medals: 1938/39; 1940/41 Glasgow Charity Cup medals: 1936/37 Scotland Caps: 3 (war time)

Celtic in the Thirties – Celtic star Malky MacDonald. Image Celtic Curio for Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, published by Celtic Star Books on 5 November 2024.

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Malky MacDonald was a superb but really rather unlucky player. He was unlucky in that he had repeated cartilage problems, other injuries and even appendicitis and was also unlucky in that the Second World War came along at the wrong time as well.

He was born in South Uist but spent most of his early life in Glasgow, and he joined Celtic as a centre half in March 1932 at the age of 18. This surprises us because he always seemed to be too small and too slight to be a centre half, but in any case he never really featured in that role at Celtic Park.

But his versatility allowed him to play as a wing half, inside right and a winger, and it was soon obvious that he was far too good a ball player to be merely a centre half. He had visionary passing ability and he was a creator rather than a destroyer.

Malky MacDonald

The trouble with being a versatile, utility sort of player is that one never settled into any one position which he can claim as his own. MacDonald’s best position turned out to be inside right and he excelled there, so much so that when someone put it to Jimmy Delaney that he (Delaney) was the best player in that team, Jimmy replied “Hoo coold ah be, wi’ Malky MacDonald in that side?”

He made his debut at the start of the 1933/34 season and then he had an impressive start to the 1935/36 season at inside left before having cartilage problems which saw him miss most of that glorious season. He then became more or less a permanent reserve at Celtic Park, a role which he seemed to enjoy, content to bide his time, for he knew (and Maley and McMenemy both agreed) that he was a great player and that he had a great deal to offer.

All the same he must have begun to wonder about his future at Parkhead until autumn 1937 when inside right Willie Buchan was transferred suddenly to Blackpool and MacDonald seized his opportunity with both hands. Whether this was part of a grand plan to earn £10,000 from the sale of Buchan in the knowledge that they had a better player waiting in the wings, or whether Celtic were simply lucky is irrelevant to the main issue. Until early March when he was injured, MacDonald was now the inside right, Johnny Crum was the centre forward taking on the awesome role of replacing McGrory, John Divers came in at inside life, and as the three of them were between Jimmy Delaney and Frank Murphy and in front of Chick Geatons, Willie Lyon and George Paterson, there was little that could go wrong.

Celtic in the Thirties – Celtic star Malky MacDonald takes training. Photo: The Celtic Wiki. Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, is published by Celtic Star Books on 5 November 2024.

The New Year Day win over Rangers at Parkhead was a springboard to the winning of the League even though there was an odd defeat to Jimmy McGrory’s Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup, but MacDonald was out injured when the League was clinched, and also missed the Glasgow Charity Cup final.

But he was back for the big show, the Empire Exhibition Trophy of 1938 and indeed he was the one of the stars in the final at Ibrox Park when Celtic beat Everton 1-0. He had missed the first game against Sunderland in the quarter final, but returned for the reply and made a difference, and then played well against Hearts in the semi-final, before making an outstanding contribution in the final against Everton. Those who had criticised Celtic for selling Willie Buchan to Blackpool six months previously now had to eat their words.

Things looked good for MacDonald now. In the 6-2 defeat of Rangers in September, he scored a hat-trick and a month later in October he won a Glasgow Cup medal. But then he was stricken with appendicitis, a blow from which neither he nor Celtic ever really recovered. 1939 was a poor year for the club.

Celtic in the Thirties – Celtic star Malky MacDonald in action. Photo: The Celtic Wiki. Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, is published by Celtic Star Books on 5 November 2024.

MacDonald was never very fond of Maley, yet he probably owed him a great deal, for Maley was still a good judge of a football player, even though he found it harder and harder to relate to them. MacDonald was probably one of the many players who would avoid Maley on a tram, going upstairs if he spotted him downstairs and vice versa, and even crossing the street to avoid him.

When war came in September 1939 wartime regulations meant that a full time career as a professional footballer was not allowed. MacDonald continued to play for the club in the chaotic war time conditions. It was never really possible to do any training, and teams were selected on a haphazard business, and Celtic now without Maley, frankly struggled, their record a disgrace. Possibly one mustn’t be too hard in the difficult circumstances of the times, but the large support and indeed Scotland at large really needed some sort of a challenge to Rangers. Possibly MacDonald belatedly recognised that Celtic really did need Maley after all.

Celtic in the Thirties – Celtic star Malky MacDonald. Photo: The Celtic Wiki. Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, is published by Celtic Star Books on 5 November 2024.

Much as they loved each other, Celtic and “Malky” or “Callum” needed to part and MacDonald now spent the next twenty or so years of his life flitting between Kilmarnock and Brentford as player, coach and Manager. In his first spell at Rugby Park he had the misfortune to lose two Cup finals – the League Cup in 1952 to Dundee and the Scottish Cup (after a replay) in 1957 to Falkirk. He succeeded Willie Waddell as Manager of Kilmarnock in 1965, but did not long survive at Rugby Park after a severe 6-0 thrashing one day in March 1968 on a hard pitch from Celtic.

Celtic in the Thirties. Malky MacDonald as Scotland manager 1966. Photo The Celtic Wiki

He may well have lacked the “devil” that a Manager needs and which men like Maley and Stein certainly possessed. He was certainly very straight with everyone, soft-spoken, calm, polite, thoughtful and with the vision to see the solution to problems in the same way that he saw the way to create goals on the football field. He was considered good enough to be given the job of interim Manager of Scotland in October and November 1966 after the resignation of John Prentice and before the appointment of Bobby Brown. He drew with Wales and, with six Celtic men on board, beat Northern Ireland 2-1.

When he retired from the hard, unforgiving world of professional football, Malky became a physiotherapist with a particular interest in podiatry. He was well suited to this – loads of knowledge on the subject and a calm, assuaging and reassuring manner.

Celtic in the Thirties. Malcolm MacDonald pictured with the Empire Exhibition Trophy. Photo The Celtic Wiki

It is odd that he is some ways a peripheral figure in Celtic history, for he was a superbly talented player and a committed Celt whose departure caused a great deal of anguish among the supporters. But he simply came at the wrong time, and when the opportunity was given to him, it was for all too short a time before malevolent fate took a hand.

David Potter