Macaulay Kevin Langstaff (born 3 February 1997) is an English professional

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 plays 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 club

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. As of 2023, he holds the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

record for most league goals scored in a season.

Early life

Macaulay Kevin Langstaff was born on 3 February 1997 in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

, County Durham. He often attended Middlesbrough games as a child, and played for Marton FC.

Career

Early career

When he was 10, Langstaff joined the academy of

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 ...

, where he played until he was 13. He played for Boro Rangers for the next four years, before signing for

Wearside Football League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 of the National League System (levels 11 to 13 of the Football pyramid) and is a feeder to the ...

club Stockton Town in 2014. He moved up to Stockton's

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

later that season, as they won the Shipowners' Cup for the first time. In 2015, while in college, he started playing for Billingham Synthonia. After scoring 31 in goals in 65 appearances in all competitions, he took on a local agent and signed his first professional contract with

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

in February 2017. He made five appearances before being loaned back to Billingham and to Blyth Spartans. In 2018, he moved to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

, where he played for two years. In 2020, he returned to Gateshead for another two seasons. In his first season, he scored four goals in 16 appearances. In the 2021–22 season, he scored 32 goals across all competitions, leading the league, and was named Player of the Season. He was also named in the league's Team of the Year. Gateshead earned

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the National League that season as champions.

Notts County

In 2022, Langstaff joined

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on a three-year contract for a transfer fee of £50,000. In October, he became the first player to win back-to-back National League Player of the month awards. By mid-October he had scored 15 goals in 13 games and was being compared to

Erling Haaland Erling Braut Haaland (, ; born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Norway national football te ...

, as they vied to be the top scorer in the top five leagues. On 7 April 2023, he scored his 41st goal in 41 league games, none of them penalties. This set a new County club record, and the National League division record, for league goals in a season. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Langstaff was voted as the Notts County Fans' and Players' Player of the Season. He played in County's 2–2

extra-time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

draw with Chesterfield on 13 May at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in the 2023 National League play-off final, with County winning the ensuing

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

4–3 to earn promotion to League Two. Langstaff converted his kick during the shootout. On 7 August 2023, after fielding offers from teams in higher leagues, Langstaff signed a new contract with Notts County, contracting him to the club until the end of the 2026–27 season. He started the 2023–24 season strongly, with 11 goals in his first 15 appearances. He recorded a first-half hat-trick in Notts' 5–0 win over

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

on 29 December, which was his first hat-trick in the

English 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 ...

. By the start of 2024, he was the top scorer in the EFL, with 20 goals in 27 appearances. He won a third consecutive golden boot award for the 2023–24 season with a tally of twenty-eight and finished the season as the top scorer in the EFL. On 10 June 2024, it was announced that Langstaff would become Notts County's club captain.

Millwall

On 8 July 2024, Langstaff signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee. He would make his debut on 10 August 2024, coming off the bench in a 3–2 home defeat to

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. His first goal for the club came on 28 September in a 3–1 home win against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Career statistics

Honours

Gateshead *

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

: 2021–22 Notts County *

National League play-offs The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *National League North Golden Boot: 2021–22 *National League North Team of the Year: 2021–22 *National League North Player of the Season: 2021–22 *National League Player of the Month: August 2022, September 2022, March 2023 *Notts County Supporters' Player of the Season: 2022–23 *Notts County Players' Player of the Season: 2022–23 *National League Golden Boot: 2022–23 *National League Team of the Year: 2022–23 *National League Player of the Season:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* EFL League Two Team of the Season: 2023–24 *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

Golden Boot: 2023–24 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2023–24 League Two

References

External links

Profile
at the Millwall F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Langstaff, Macaulay 1997 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players Stockton Town F.C. players Billingham Synthonia F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Millwall F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen