Garry MacDonald (born 26 March 1962) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who made nearly 250 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

and

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

Life and career

MacDonald was born in 1962 in

. He began his football career with

Middlesbrough F.C. Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were fo ...

, and made his first-team debut for them on 8 November 1980, aged 18, in the starting eleven for a 1–0 win away to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. He made 16 appearances over his first two seasons, at the end of which Middlesbrough were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He went on to make 61 appearances before being released in 1984. He began the 1984–85 season with another Second Division club,

, before moving on in October to

of the Fourth Division under the management of

Cyril Knowles Cyril Barry Knowles (13 July 1944 – 30 August 1991) was a footballer who played left-back for Tottenham Hotspur and England. He was the son of the rugby league footballer Cyril Knowles, and the older brother of fellow professional football ...

. He made 33 league appearances as the team gained promotion to the Third Division, and played in all six of their

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

ties and scored in the third-round replay as Darlington eliminated his former club Middlesbrough by two goals to one; some 20 years later, that match was voted the best ever played at the

Feethams Feethams is a cricket and former football grounds in Darlington, England. The cricket ground has hosted Durham CCC matches. The football ground was the home of Darlington F.C. for from 1883 to 2003 until the club moved into another ground, no ...

ground. MacDonald top-scored for Darlington in 1985–86 with 16 league goals, but injury deprived him of the chance to partner new signing David Currie the following season, at the end of which they were relegated. In 1987–88, MacDonald played regularly alongside Currie, whose performances earned him a move to a higher level. MacDonald stayed with Darlington for one more season, but left the club when they were relegated out of the Football League into the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

. He had scored 47 goals from 196 appearances in all competitions. After a few months with

during which he made only four first-team appearances, Cyril Knowles signed him for

in December 1989 for a £5,000 fee. MacDonald made 16 appearances that season but scored only once, and after three more matches in the 1990–91 season, he moved into

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...

Career statistics

:Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Garry 1962 births Living people Footballers from Middlesbrough English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players South Bank F.C. players English Football League players Northern Football League players