Macaulay Kevin Langstaff (born 3 February 1997) is an English professional

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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club Millwall. As of 2023, he holds the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

record for most league goals scored in a season.

Early life

Macaulay Kevin Langstaff was born on 3 February 1997 in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, County Durham. He often attended Middlesbrough games as a child, and played for Marton FC.

Career

Early career

When he was 10, Langstaff joined the academy of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, where he played until he was 13. He played for Boro Rangers for the next four years, before signing for Wearside Football League club Stockton Town in 2014. He moved up to Stockton's

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

later that season, as they won the Shipowners' Cup for the first time. In 2015, while in college, he started playing for

Billingham Synthonia Billingham Synthonia Football Club is a football club based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, England. Nicknamed the "Synners", they are currently members of the and play at the Stokesley Sports Complex in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. History T ...

. After scoring 31 in goals in 65 appearances in all competitions, he took on a local agent and signed his first professional contract with

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

in February 2017. He made five appearances before being loaned back to Billingham and to Blyth Spartans. In 2018, he moved to York City, where he played for two years. In 2020, he returned to Gateshead for another two seasons. In his first season, he scored four goals in 16 appearances. In the 2021–22 season, he scored 32 goals across all competitions, leading the league, and was named Player of the Season. He was also named in the league's Team of the Year. Gateshead earned promotion to the National League that season as champions.

Notts County

In 2022, Langstaff joined Notts County on a three-year contract for a transfer fee of £50,000. In October, he became the first player to win back-to-back National League Player of the month awards. By mid-October he had scored 15 goals in 13 games and was being compared to Erling Haaland, as they vied to be the top scorer in the top five leagues. On 7 April 2023, he scored his 41st goal in 41 league games, none of them penalties. This set a new County club record, and the National League division record, for league goals in a season. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Langstaff was voted as the Notts County Fans' and Players' Player of the Season. He played in County's 2–2 extra-time draw with

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

on 13 May at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in the 2023 National League play-off final, with County winning the ensuing penalty shoot-out 4–3 to earn promotion to

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 ...

. Langstaff converted his kick during the shootout. On 7 August 2023, after fielding offers from teams in higher leagues, Langstaff signed a new contract with Notts County, contracting him to the club until the end of the 2026–27 season. He started the 2023–24 season strongly, with 11 goals in his first 15 appearances. He recorded a first-half hat-trick in Notts' 5–0 win over

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

on 29 December, which was his first hat-trick in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

. By the start of 2024, he was the top scorer in the EFL, with 20 goals in 27 appearances. He won a third consecutive golden boot award for the 2023–24 season with a tally of twenty-eight and finished the season as the top scorer in the EFL. On 10 June 2024, it was announced that Langstaff would become Notts County's club captain.

Millwall

On 8 July 2024, Langstaff signed for Championship club Millwall on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.

Career statistics

Honours

Gateshead *

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

: 2021–22 Notts County *

National League play-offs 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-profes ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *National League North Golden Boot: 2021–22 *National League North Team of the Year: 2021–22 *National League North Player of the Season: 2021–22 *National League Player of the Month: August 2022, September 2022, March 2023 *Notts County Supporters' Player of the Season: 2022–23 *Notts County Players' Player of the Season: 2022–23 *National League Golden Boot: 2022–23 *National League Team of the Year: 2022–23 *National League Player of the Season:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* EFL League Two Team of the Season: 2023–24 *

EFL 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 ...

Golden Boot: 2023–24

References

External links

Profile
at the Notts County F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Langstaff, Macaulay 1997 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players Stockton Town F.C. players Billingham Synthonia F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Millwall F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players