Malcolm Waldron born 6 September 1956 is an English 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 for various clubs, including

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 ...

and Portsmouth. He played as a centre back during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Playing career

Southampton

Born in Emsworth,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, Waldron was initially spotted playing for Havant and Hampshire school teams and was snapped up by Southampton, joining them as an apprentice in July 1973 before signing professional papers on reaching 18 in September 1974. He made his debut on 12 April 1975 in a 0–0 draw away 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 made 3 appearances that season and 2 the following before establishing himself as a regular member of the Saints' defence in 1976–77. Although he could play anywhere in the back four, his best position was as sweeper, with his strength lying mainly in heading and tackling. Waldron is described in Holley & Chalk's ''The Alphabet of the Saints'' as being "extememly agile and lithe for a big man, he also packed a thunderbolt of a shot and scored some memorable goals for the club". During Southampton's promotion season 1977–78, he played "second fiddle" to

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (born 12 October 1946) is an English-born former Northern Ireland international footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. Playing career Nicholl was born in Macclesfield. He played for Burnley (1963–1966) ( ...

and Mike Pickering and was often replaced by

Manny Andruszewski Emanuel Franciszek Andruszewski (born 4 October 1955) is an English former footballer who played for Southampton. He played at full back and centre back during the late 1970s. Southampton He joined Southampton as an associate schoolboy in Nov ...

in the centre of defence. He really came to the fore in Saints' first season back in Division 1, when he was an ever-present. He also played in all of Southampton's matches as they reached the final of the League Cup in 1979, only to lose 3–2 in the final. He was voted Saints' "Player of the Season" for 1978–79 and in the following season he was called up for the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

B team against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The following season, he lost his place to David Watson as Lawrie McMenemy once again started to re-build the Southampton team. Injury forced him to miss most of the 1980–81 season in which Saints finished in sixth place in Division 1, thus qualifying for European football. He spent the summer of 1981 playing in the United States for

Washington Diplomats The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. Arm ...

before returning to The Dell. His return was disappointing and a succession of irritating injuries and a loss of form led to a transfer to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

for £90,000 in September 1983. Waldron made a total of 218 appearances for Southampton over 8 years, scoring 11 goals.

Burnley and Portsmouth

His brief spell at

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football ...

was not a happy time and after falling out with John Bond he moved to his home-town club,

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 ...

the following May. At

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

he continued to suffer from injuries and was unable to return to his previous high standard. He eventually retired from professional football in December 1986.

After retirement

He turned out for

Road-Sea Southampton F.C. Road-Sea Southampton, commonly referred to as RS Southampton, was a semi-professional football club, based near Southampton, England, best known for moving directly from playing in amateur league park level football to the semi-professional Sou ...

in their final 1986–87 season. He subsequently worked for Abbey Life and latterly as health care adviser for

BUPA Bupa , legally British United Provident Association Limited, is an international health insurance and healthcare group with over 38 million customers worldwide. Bupa's origins and global headquarters are in the United Kingdom. Its main countrie ...

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldron, Malcolm 1956 births Living people People from Emsworth Southampton F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players England men's B international footballers Men's association football central defenders English men's footballers Footballers from Hampshire