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 ...

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 In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Playing career

Southampton

Born in

Emsworth Emsworth is a town in the Borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, England, near the border of West Sussex and located at by the south coast of England. It lies at the north end of an arm of Chichester Harbour, a large and shallow inlet fr ...

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

, Waldron was initially spotted playing for

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England between Portsmouth and Chichester. Its borough (population: 125,000) comprises the town (45,826) and its suburbs including the resort of Hayling Island as well as Rowland's Cast ...

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 gals 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 national football team, Northern Ireland international Association football, footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. Playing career Nicholl ...

and

Mike Pickering Mike Pickering (born 21 February 1954) is an English musician and DJ. Career Pickering was a DJ at The Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights, and later Shine. He worked for Factory Records, where he signed Happy Mondays, To Hell with Burgundy and ...

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 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 ...

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 Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war Englis ...

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 soccer, indoor home matches at the neigh ...

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, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

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 footba ...

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

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldron, Malcolm 1956 births Living people People from Emsworth Southampton F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players England B international footballers Association football central defenders English footballers