Kevin Duncan MacDonald (born 22 November 1960) 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, rugb ...

who is the former manager of

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

and caretaker manager of

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

on three occasions. As a player MacDonald was a member of the

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

" winning side of 1986. Prior to taking his first managerial job at Swindon MacDonald's career most notably included a spell as caretaker manager at

following the resignation of

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his play ...

on 9 August 2010. MacDonald also worked as assistant manager of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

, with his ex-

teammate

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa and Liverpool. He also played in the Fo ...

, who he used to coach at Aston Villa. In 1994, he also spent a short time as caretaker manager at

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 ...

Playing career

MacDonald was discovered by

while playing for his home town club, Inverness Caledonian, in the Highland League.

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

, then manager of

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), a ...

, watched Macdonald on several occasions while he played for Inverness Caledonian, but no business was done. MacDonald joined

from Leicester for £400,000 in November 1984. He never commanded a regular spot at Anfield, but he was in the team at the right time, helping Liverpool to the First Division title in 1986 and then to the "double" (only the third in the 20th century) when he helped them beat Everton in the 1986 FA Cup Final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. At the start of the following season, MacDonald broke his leg against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 20 September 1986. By the time he recovered

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for th ...

had settled on

Steve McMahon Stephen Joseph McMahon (born 20 August 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and current television pundit. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1979 to 1998, most notably playing for Liverpool in the late 1980s. ...

for the central midfield role. He made no appearances for the rest of the 1986–87 season, and just one appearance in the 1987–88 season (in the league against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 9 May 1988). In his final season at the club, 1988–89, he made just five competitive appearances before he later had spells on loan at his old club Leicester and also at Rangers. In April 1989, shortly before he left Liverpool, MacDonald, along with his teammates, rallied round the bereaved families of the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in ...

. He scored three competitive goals in his time at Liverpool (one in the league, one in 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 compet ...

and one 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 ...

) as well as two goals in the

Football League Super Cup The Football League Super Cup (known for sponsorship reasons as the ScreenSport Super Cup) was a one-off football club competition held in England in the 1985–86 season. It was organised by the Football League and was intended as a form of fina ...

, all of which came in the 1985–86 season. In June 1989 he made a permanent move to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and played out his career.

Management and coaching

Leicester City

In November 1994, MacDonald was named caretaker manager of

for a short period between the departure of

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

and the arrival of Mark McGhee.

Aston Villa

In August 2010, following the immediate resignation of former

manager

, he assumed the role of caretaker manager at the club. He had previously been the manager of Villa's successful reserve side and assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national side under Steve Staunton. MacDonald had been employed by Aston Villa since 1995 and had held a number of different positions at the club. MacDonald's first game as caretaker manager came at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

against

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 ...

on the opening day of the 2010–11 Premier League season which Villa won 3–0 including the last goal for

James Milner James Philip Milner (born 4 January 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Liverpool. A versatile player, Milner has played in multiple positions, including on the wing, in midfield and at full-back. ...

as a Villa player. He then led Villa to a 1–1 draw in their Europa League qualifier first-leg match against

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade'' ...

. His second league game in charge resulted in a 6–0 defeat to Newcastle United. Villa named

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, U ...

as their permanent manager on 8 September 2010; however, MacDonald remained in charge for the following two Premier League matches against Stoke City and Bolton due to Houllier having to work his notice with the French Football Federation. With the departure of Houllier and his

number 2 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

Gary McAllister Gary McAllister MBE (born 25 December 1964) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. McAllister played primarily as a midfielder in a career spanning over nineteen years. He started his career at local side Motherwell b ...

, the Villa hierarchy let it be known that MacDonald and

Gordon Cowans Gordon Sidney Cowans (born 27 October 1958) is an English retired football player and coach. Cowans started his career at Aston Villa as an apprentice in 1974, and signed as a professional in 1976. During his time at Aston Villa, he won the Le ...

would have futures at the club no matter who the new manager was. On 13 December 2018, Aston Villa suspended MacDonald after allegations of bullying from ex-midfielder Gareth Farrelly. Farrelly gave an interview to the Guardian newspaper where he described MacDonald as being "relentlessly negative" to him in the 1990s. Furthermore, Farrelly claimed MacDonald was "incredibly aggressive, with constant verbal and physical bullying". Other players came forward to give information including Greg Walters a trainee at Aston Villa between 1998 and 2000. Villa initiated an internal investigation and MacDonald was temporarily reassigned to non-player facing duties. On 20 August 2019, Aston Villa announced MacDonald's departure with immediate effect. Aston Villa apologised to all former players that came forward as part of the investigation into Kevin Macdonald's behaviour. In the clubs statement it said "Aston Villa wishes to apologise to all former players who were affected by behaviour which would not be tolerated by the Club today".

Swindon Town

On 28 February 2013, it was announced MacDonald was the new manager of

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. MacDonald led the team into the 2013 League One play-offs following a 6th place league finish but lost 5–4 on penalties to Brentford in the semi-finals. On 12 July 2013, he failed to attend a pre-season friendly with

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

The New Lawn The New Lawn, also known as The Bolt New Lawn for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It has been the home stadium of League One club Forest Green Rovers since 2006. During the 2007–08 season the stadium ...

for what was described by Swindon as 'personal problems' and after six months in the job, it was announced that he had quit the club the following day.

References

External links

LFChistory.net player profile
* *
Kevin MacDonald career stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Kevin 1960 births Living people Footballers from Inverness Scottish footballers Association football midfielders Leicester City F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English Football League players Scottish football managers Leicester City F.C. managers Aston Villa F.C. managers Premier League managers Caledonian F.C. players Scottish Football League players Swindon Town F.C. managers English Football League managers Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Highland Football League players Association football coaches