Malcolm Waldron (born 6 September 1956) is an English former 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 played as a centre back. He spent the majority of his playing career at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. In the summer of 1981, Waldron was sent on loan to Washington Diplomats. In 1983, he moved to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

before joining

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

a year later where he ended his professional career.

Club career

Southampton

Born in Emsworth,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, Waldron was initially spotted playing for

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England. Nearby places include Portsmouth to the south-west, Southampton to the west, Waterlooville to north, Chichester to the east and Hayling Island to the south. The wider borough ...

and Hampshire school teams and was snapped up by Southampton, joining them as an apprentice in July 1973 before signing professional papers on reaching 18 in September 1974. He made his debut on 12 April 1975 in a 0–0 draw away to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. However, he only made a couple of appearances that season and hardly featured the following before establishing himself as a regular member of the Saints' defence in 1976–77. That season, he scored in a 4–0 victory against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in the first leg of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

first round. During Southampton's promotion season in 1977–78, he wore six different numbers as he played in several different positions to accommodate

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (12 October 1946 – 24 February 2024) was a professional footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. A centre-back, Nicholl began his playing career at Burnley, but moved to Witton Albion after failing to br ...

and

Mike Pickering Mike Pickering is an English musician, DJ, songwriter, A&R Executive from Manchester, UK. Career Pickering was a DJ at The Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights, and later Shine. He worked for Factory Records, where he signed Happy Mondays, To Hell ...

as a pairing in the centre of defence. He really came to the fore in Saints' first season back in Division 1, playing in all 56 matches including the final of the League Cup in 1979 which Southampton lost to Nottingham Forest. He was voted Saints' "Player of the Season" for 1978–79 and in the following season he was called up for the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

B team against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Waldron suffered a career-threatening achilles tendon injury which was overcome by surgery and was sent for rehabilitation in the summer of 1981 to the United States for Washington Diplomats. After they failed to sign him permanently, he returned to Southampton. In April 1982, Waldron underwent an operation for a routine removal of a cyst on his knee, but the surgery was botched – he made only three appearances over the next 18 months. Waldron made a total of 218 appearances for Southampton over eight years, scoring 11 goals. Waldron is described in Holley & Chalk's ''The Alphabet of the Saints'' as being "extememly agile and lithe for a big man, he also packed a thunderbolt of a shot and scored some memorable goals for the club".

Later career

He joined

in 1983, and was surprised to pass the medical. However, he was unhappy during his spell at Burnley, and the following May he moved to his home-town club,

. At

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

, Waldron continued to suffer from the knee injury and he eventually retired from professional football in December 1986. He turned out for non-league club Road-Sea Southampton in their final 1986–87 season.

Personal life

After football, he worked for Abbey Life and latterly as health care adviser for BUPA in

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

. Following his work as a divisional manager for Norwich Union, Waldron started his own business brokering private medical insurance.

Honours

Southampton

* League Cup runner-up: 1978–79

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldron, Malcolm 1956 births Living people People from Emsworth Southampton F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Road-Sea Southampton F.C. players England men's B international footballers Men's association football central defenders English men's footballers Footballers from Hampshire English Football League players