Murdo Davidson MacLeod (born 24 September 1958 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. MacLeod, who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, made 20 appearances for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and played in the 1990 World Cup Finals. He had a successful club career, mainly with

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, Celtic,

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional foot ...

and Hibernian. He then became a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

during the mid-1990s, serving both Dumbarton and

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...

. MacLeod then returned to Celtic as assistant manager, enjoying a successful season in tandem with

Wim Jansen Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius Jansen (; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a midfielder or defender, he spent most of his career at Feyenoord, winning honours including the European C ...

. Since leaving Celtic as a result of Jansen's departure from

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

in 1998, MacLeod has worked as a football pundit for newspapers, radio and television.

Playing career

MacLeod made his name with

in the mid-1970s. He earned selection by the Scottish League in 1978, playing in a 1–1 draw against the Italian League. MacLeod moved to Celtic later that year for a £100,000 transfer fee. During his nine years at

, MacLeod won five league titles, two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. MacLeod has the distinction of being awarded with scoring the greatest ever

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply e ...

goal, in a vote by Celtic supporters in 2000; the goal helped Celtic win the league championship in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, in a decisive match against

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. MacLeod rejected a contract offer from Celtic in May 1987 and moved to German club

a month later. MacLeod played in 103 Bundesliga games during four years at the Westfalenstadion. He won the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesl ...

and Super Cup in 1989. He returned to Scotland with Hibernian, where he captained the club to a victory in the 1991 Scottish League Cup Final. MacLeod had to wait until late in his career before becoming a

regular. He made his debut appearance as a substitute against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in the 1985 Rous Cup. He made his first starting appearance for Scotland in October 1986, aged 28. MacLeod went on to win a total of 20 caps, playing in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

tournament.

Coaching career

After a successful playing career, he returned to

as player-coach. He guided the club to promotion from the Second Division with a last day win over Stirling Albion in 1995. In the summer of 1995, MacLeod left the ''Sons'' to manage Premier Division club

. MacLeod's tenure at Firhill was unsuccessful, as the club were relegated at the end of the 1995–96 season. He re-joined Celtic as assistant coach under

, where he helped the club win a league and

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

double in 1997–98, their only season in charge.

Media work

MacLeod has written for the '' Daily Record'' and commentated on football for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

and

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

. MacLeod has also worked as a Scottish football analyst on

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

radio in Ireland. In 2012, he starred on the

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older chil ...

show "My Story" with his grandsons, Murdo Jr. and Ross.

Personal life

MacLeod was admitted to Golden Jubilee Hospital in

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling and Milton beyond) to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas ...

during January 2010 to have a heart operation. MacLeod endorsed the Conservative Party in the 2010 General Election, campaigning for their candidate in the Argyll & Bute constituency. During the

2014 Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side w ...

he was a supporter of the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence.

Honours

Player

;Celtic *

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994 ...

(5) *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

(1) ;Borrusia Dortmund *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

(German Cup) (1): 1988–89 ;Hibernian *Scottish League Cup (1): 1991–92

Manager

;Dumbarton * Stirlingshire Cup : 1993–94 *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

promotion : 1994–95

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Murdo 1958 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Association football midfielders Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players Dumbarton F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Borussia Dortmund players Hibernian F.C. players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in West Germany Scottish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Scottish Football League players Bundesliga players Scottish football managers Hibernian F.C. non-playing staff Dumbarton F.C. managers Partick Thistle F.C. managers Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Scottish association football commentators Scottish Football League representative players Scotland under-21 international footballers Scottish Football League managers Conservative Party (UK) people Partick Thistle F.C. players Association football player-managers