Charles Lea MacDonald (born 13 February 1981) is an English

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 ...

who plays for

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

Football career

Early career

MacDonald played for the

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 Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

youth team before joining

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

as a trainee, turning professional in August 1998. He made his Charlton debut on 3 January 2000, as a late substitute for

Martin Pringle Martin Ulf Pringle (born 18 November 1970) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre forward, and the current manager of Varbergs BoIS. As a player, he played from 1991 until his career was cut short by injury in 2002 ...

in a 3–0 win at home to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He started the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

the following weekend, scoring the only goal as Charlton progressed to the fourth round. He made two further appearances as substitute that season and won the Charlton Young Player of the Year Award. He joined

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

on loan in March 2001, scoring twice in seven games with both goals coming in the same game against Blackpool. He returned to the Charlton first team squad later that year and scored his first ever Premiership goal when scoring the late equaliser in the 1–1 draw with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

at The Valley. However, that was his last involvement with the Charlton first team and in February 2002 he joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on loan, playing five games without scoring. In March 2002 he joined

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on loan, but made just four appearances and scored one goal, in a 2–2 draw with Wigan Athletic, before returning to his parent club at The Valley. He was released by Charlton in May 2002 and joined

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

side

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

in August. After one goal against Forest Green Rovers and five appearances, the following month he moved to Conference rivals

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

Crawley Town

In August 2003 he moved to

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

, and after an injury-troubled start, went on to play a crucial role in the club winning the Dr Martens League Premier Division and with it, promotion to the Nationwide Conference for the first time in its history. His best spell saw him score nine goals in seven matches – scoring in all seven. He was the side's leading scorer in the league, with 17 goals. He had the honour of scoring Crawley's first ever goal in the Conference, part of a brace that saw them beat Leigh RMI away from home 2–1. He scored seven goals in the first two months, but eventually lost his place and was loaned out to Weymouth in April 2005.

Gravesend & Northfleet

In May 2005 he moved to Gravesend & Northfleet and soon settled in as a regular in the Gravesend team and a regular on the scoresheet. His contract with Gravesend and Northfleet ended at the close of the 2006–07 season and put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal with

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

, arriving at Roots Hall on a free transfer.

Southend United

During his time at Southend he scored just once in the league against Doncaster Rovers, but he scored a further four goals in cup competitions with a goal against Watford in the League Cup, a brace against Oxford United in the FA Cup and another goal in the FA Cup against Dagenham & Redbridge.

Brentford

He joined Brentford on 9 July 2008 for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract. He scored 18 goals in his first season at the club, helping Brentford to win

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. He was awarded the League Two Player of the Month award for February 2009. His first season was ended in March due to a shoulder injury; however, he bounced back to become Brentford's top scorer in the 2009–10 season. In his three-year stay at Brentford he scored a league goal every 2.7 games; 40 goals in 111 games at Griffin Park.

Milton Keynes Dons

On 26 August 2011, Charlie MacDonald signed a two-year contract with

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

for a £35,000 fee. MacDonald was the replacement for

Sam Baldock Samuel Edward Thomas Baldock (born 15 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Oxford United. He grew up in the village of Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire, while attending the Royal Latin School in Bucking ...

, who recently left MK Dons to join

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Leyton Orient

MacDonald signed for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

on a free transfer on 12 January 2013.

Oldham Athletic

MacDonald joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

on a one-year contract in July 2013, with the option of a second year, after Leyton Orient chose not to extend his contract. MacDonald's debut was against Stevenage FC in an epic match that ended 4–3 to Oldham Athletic, with MacDonald earning 2 penalties including the match-winner converted by Jose Baxter. MacDonald's first goal for Latics was a consolation header in a 2–1 defeat to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

at London Road. At the end of the 2013–14 season, the one – year option that the club had on MacDonald's contract was not exercised, and thus he was released. During his time at the club he had made 30 league appearances, scoring five goals.

Barnet

MacDonald joined

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 16 July 2014. He scored a penalty on his debut, a 5–0 away win at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He was appointed captain of the side by manager Martin Allen. After scoring eight goals during Barnet's promotion winning campaign, MacDonald was not offered a new contract with the Bees.

Boreham Wood

MacDonald joined

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

on 15 July 2015. He scored only twice in all competitions in the first half of the season and was loaned to St Albans City in January 2016. Director of football

Ian Allinson Ian James Robert Allinson (born 1 October 1957) is an English football manager and former player and former manager of St Albans City. In his playing career, Allinson amassed over 300 league appearances for Colchester United in two spells, an ...

stated that "it hasn't quite clicked for Charlie in his time with us. He is a great guy who just wants to play football and now he's fit, he was not getting the game time with us that he had hoped for".

Greenwich Borough

On 10 June 2016, MacDonald joined Isthmian Division One South side Greenwich Borough. He would spend a season and a half at the club, before financial constraints led to a number of players and staff leaving the club.

Cray Wanderers

On 10 January 2018, MacDonald signed for league rivals

Cray Wanderers Cray Wanderers Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Sidcup, London. Based on later reports, the club has a claim to have been established some time in 1860 in the twin villages of St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cr ...

. He scored on his debut the same day, against VCD Athletic.

VCD Athletic

MacDonald joined VCD Athletic for the 2018–19 season, scoring twice on his debut against

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

Glebe

MacDonald joined

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

for the 2020–21 season.

Barking

MacDonald joined

for the 2021-22 season.

Coaching career

MacDonald coaches at Bobby Bowry's Volenti Academy.

Personal life

During his time as a player at Oldham Athletic, MacDonald studied for and obtained a degree in Professional Sports Writing & Broadcasting from

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

Honours

Charlton Athletic *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1999–00 ; Crawley Town * Southern League Premier Division: 2003–04 ; Brentford *

: 2008–09 ; Barnet *

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

: 2014–15 Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 1999–00 * League Two Player of the Month: February 2009

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Charlie 1981 births Living people Footballers from Southwark English footballers Association football forwards Millwall F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Margate F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Greenwich Borough F.C. players Cray Wanderers F.C. players VCD Athletic F.C. players Glebe F.C. players Barking F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Alumni of Staffordshire University