A Luton Hero That Had So Much Success He Was Always Going To Move On To Bigger Things

Growing up, it is fair to say that we all had our heroes.

People who we idolise and people who we used to portray when participating in those long-gone days when jumpers were used for goalposts in a game of football played out in the street.

One of my heroes, as a youngster, was Malcolm MacDonald.

MacDonald was bought by Luton Town, from Fulham, back in 1969.

However, Alec Stock, the Hatters manager at the time, saw something in the young MacDonald that nobody else had done at the time.

Stock converted MacDonald into a striker, a change that resulted in considerable success.

MacDonald, as well as being powerfully built, possessed an astonishing burst of speed, something that was perfectly illustrated when on the popular programme, Superstars, he ran 100 metres in 10.9 seconds.

In the colours of Luton, MacDonald scored a magnificent 58 goals in 101 matches, thrilling the Hatters support and resulting in many a young lad, like me, to pretend they were MacDonald as they burst through defenders on many a sports field or road.

But MacDonald was not to have a prolonged Luton career, his prolific scoring success alerted the bigger clubs and in 1971 Luton accepted a fee of £180,000 that saw the play join Newcastle United.

I can still remember crying myself to sleep knowing my hero had left my beloved club.

But MacDonald was always going to move on, and he attained instant superstar status, with Newcastle, when he scored a hat-trick on his home debut, against Liverpool.

Further success, in the bar code shirts, saw him move to Arsenal and on the international front, he set a record that no other England player has been able to match when he scored all FIVE goals in the 5-0 rout of Cyprus on 16 April 1975.

A wonderful player from what were impressionable times for this young Hatter.

COYH’s