David MacLaren (12 June 1934 – 6 December 2016) was a footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Although born in Scotland, he spent most of his playing career in England, before turning to

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in Malaysia and Australia.

Playing career

While completing his

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as a radar technician in the

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, MacLaren represented

Hong Kong FC Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC; ), established in 1886, is a private members' club in Hong Kong. The name reflects the origin as a club for playing association football and rugby. The club is situated in Happy Valley, with the sports pitche ...

and helped Penang win the Malaya Cup in 1954. He also attracted the attention of

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manager,

Ted Drake Edward Joseph Drake (16 August 1912 – 30 May 1995) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, as wel ...

to signing him for Chelsea before he returned to Scotland and joined Dundee. He managed only one first team appearance for the team though, before heading to England in January 1957, where he would spend the rest of his playing career. He joined

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and immediately won

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to the First Division as he became first choice, but he lost his place to the emerging

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

during the 1959–60 season. McLaren took this as his cue to depart and joined Second Division Plymouth Argyle at the end of the season. The goalkeeper made more appearances for Plymouth than any of his other league clubs (131 league games) over five seasons in the second tier, before being signed by

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in early 1965. He spent only one full season at Molineux as the club attempted to regain their top flight status at the first attempt in 1965–66, but fell short. MacLaren got a chance to return to the First Division though when newly promoted

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signed him soon into the following season, despite McLaren having been in goal for Wolves when Southampton had scored nine against them in the previous season (in a 9–3 victory). He lasted just a single season at The Dell, making 22 league appearances, before losing his place to Eric Martin. After leaving Southampton he joined non-league

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. MacLaren died in

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, Australia on 6 December 2016 after a long illness.

International career

While in Penang, he was selected in a

Malaya national football team The Malaya national football team was the national team of the Federation of Malaya. The national team was active until 1962 and then it was replaced by Malaysia national football team, since the 1963 Merdeka Tournament. Competitive record ...

and played in exhibition matches. On 18 September 1954, he played for Malaya against

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in a 3–0 defeat. He then played for Malaya against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the cl ...

in a 1–1 draw on 20 November 1954. The following year, on 11 February 1955, he played against Admira in a 1–1 draw.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, he took on a new challenge in Malaysia as manager of Malaysia national team between 1970 and 1971. As national manager, MacLaren guided Malaysia to qualify for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games as group leaders. After that, he returned to Australia to manage Sydney City. In 1977, he became

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manager for two years.

Personal life

MacLaren's brothers, Jimmy and

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, were also professional footballers. All three MacLaren brothers were goalkeepers.

Honours

Player

Penang * Malaysia Cup: 1954 Leicester City *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

: 1956–57 Individual * Malaya Sportsman of the Year: 1954Dave Maclaren , SaintsPlayers.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2022 (Google Image).
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Manager

Sydney City * NSW NPL Grand Final: ''Finalists'' 1973, 1974 * NSW NPL Minor Premiership: 1973, 1974 * Ampol Cup: 1973 *

Waratah Cup The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, National Premier Leagues NSW 2, Natio ...

: 1976

References

External links

Interview with MacLaren in 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclaren, Dave 1934 births 2016 deaths Scottish footballers Association football goalkeepers Dundee F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Australian soccer coaches Australian expatriate soccer coaches South Melbourne FC managers Malaysia national football team managers Scottish emigrants to Australia Hakoah Sydney City East FC managers