Ian Richard Donald (born 28 November 1951) is a Scottish former

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 le ...

who played as a full back for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, 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. ...

and

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

in the 1970s. He later took up a position on the

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

board of directors, before eventually becoming chairman in 1994.

Career

Born in

, Donald was a promising Scotland schoolboy international when he was picked up by

as a 16-year-old in 1968. He turned professional a year later, and made his United debut on 7 October 1970, when he played at right back in the club's 1–0 victory over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the

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 ...

Third Round. However, it was nearly two years before Donald made another appearance for United, returning to action in the club's 3–0 victory at home to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

on 23 September 1972. It looked like Donald was on the verge of an extended run in the first team under

Frank O'Farrell Francis O'Farrell (9 October 1927 – 6 March 2022) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a wing half for Cork United, West Ham United and Preston North End. He made over 300 appearances in the Football League before joining ...

, but when O'Farrell was replaced by

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betwe ...

in December 1972, he suddenly found himself out of favour. He transferred to

in January 1973. Donald was not with Partick for long, however, only making one appearance for the club before the end of the 1972–73 season, when he was transferred to

. In two seasons with Arbroath, though, Donald only managed four league appearances and he retired from playing at the end of the 1974–75 season. In 1980, Donald was appointed to the board of directors at

, before rising to the position of vice-chairman by 1986, and then becoming chairman in 1994. He left the post in 1998, and remained on the board until 2004, when he was appointed as the club's honorary president.

References

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk

at MUFCInfo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Ian 1951 births Living people Footballers from Aberdeen Scottish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Manchester United F.C. players English Football League players Partick Thistle F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Scottish Football League players Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Aberdeen F.C. directors and chairmen