Kevin McDonald (born 23 January 1981) is a Scottish 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 played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. His most prominent club was

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

, where he returned to work as a community coach after ending his playing career.

Career

Having been developed as a player through Dundee United's youth scheme, he turned professional with the club in July 1997. McDonald made his United debut in a League Cup tie at home to Airdrie in September 2000 and appeared as a substitute in the

Dundee derby The Dundee derby is a football match between Dundee and Dundee United. The clubs are based yards apart in the city of Dundee, the fourth-largest city in Scotland. History Dundee is the older of the two, having been founded in 1893, compared t ...

two weeks later. During the derby match, McDonald – who himself suffered

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

and sickness – admitted responsibility for a challenge that saw teammate

Jason de Vos Jason Richard de Vos (born January 2, 1974) is a Canadian soccer executive, coach, and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach with Toronto FC in Major League Soccer. While representing his country, he was part of the national t ...

wrongly

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for challenging

Fabián Caballero Néstor Fabián Caballero (31 January 1978 – 27 September 2024), commonly referred to as Tyson, was an Argentine-Paraguayan professional footballer who played as a forward. Caballero had a 19-year career, playing in Argentina, Paraguay, Eng ...

, injuring the Argentine for several months. The fallout from the challenge saw

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

manager

Ivano Bonetti Ivano Bonetti (born 1 August 1964) is an Italian football manager, club director and former professional footballer, the current CEO and president & owner of Mobisafe. As a player he was a midfielder from 1981 to 2002. He made appearances for s ...

call de Vos "an animal", prompting the Canadian to consider legal action. McDonald failed to make another appearance for United and went on loan to

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

in January 2001, playing three times for them. In October, McDonald was released from United along with youngsters

Blair Sturrock Blair David Sturrock (born 25 August 1981) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a forward. His previous clubs include Dundee United, Brechin City, Plymouth Argyle, Kidderminster Harriers, Rochdale, Swindon Town, AFC Bournem ...

and

Gary Middleton Gary Middleton (born 20 June 1990) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Foyle since 2015. Middleton is the DUP Spoke ...

. McDonald captained

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

's under-15 and under-16 teams.

References

External links

* * 1981 births Living people Footballers from Rutherglen Scottish men's footballers Scottish Premier League players Dundee United F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Dundee United F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders Scottish Football League players Scotland men's youth international footballers Ross County F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland 21st-century Scottish sportsmen {{scotland-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub