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Bobby McDonald was a Scottish left back who went on to make a total of
112 appearances for Manchester City, scoring 16 goals in the process.
Born in Aberdeen, he was signed by manager John Bond from Coventry City
in October 1980 for £270, 000 after previously spending the early part
of his career with Aston Villa. A disastrous start to the 1980/81 season
saw City fail to register a win in their first dozen league games and
this resulted in the dismissal of managerial duo Tony Book and Malcolm
Allison. The man brought in was former Norwich boss Bond and he
immediately recognised that he needed experience to add to the young
squad which he had inherited. Working within a limited budget his first
signings were the Coventry duo of McDonald and Tommy Hutchison, followed
by Gerry Gow from Bristol City a week later. City had already won their
second game under Bond, a 3-1 victory over Tottenham at Maine Road, and
the addition of McDonald and Hutchison to the line-up at Brighton on
October 25th brought another victory as the Blues won 2-1 thanks to a
couple of Dennis Tueart goals.
The team then went on a run that saw them
only lose three League games until the end of February, McDonald
netting his first City goal in a 4-0 defeat of Wolves over the Christmas
period, and reach the semi-final of the League Cup where they lost to
Liverpool over two legs. The turn of the year saw City embark on a cup
run which was to take them all the way to Wembley for the 100th FA Cup
Final, with McDonald notching a goal in a 6-0 thrashing of Bond's old
club Norwich in the fourth round and a brace in a 3-1 quarter-final
replay defeat of Everton. The Cup Final was to end in disappointment,
however, with a 3-2 replay defeat by Tottenham following a 1-1 draw in
the first game, Bobby featuring in both games. A respectable 12th
position in the League table, with McDonald scoring 4 goals in his 28
appearances, meant an ultimately successful season for both club and
player.
The 1981/82 season was one of consolidation in the League, with
City finishing in 10th place 29 points behind champions Liverpool, and
disappointment in both domestic cup competitions with early exits in
both of them. Bobby, though, was in fine goalscoring form, equalling his
previous season's tally of 4 League goals and also notching 3 cup
goals. The first two matches of the following season ended in victory
before newly-promoted Watford arrived at Maine Road for a game that was
to see McDonald go down in City folklore. In only the 3rd minute keeper
Joe Corrigan was forced to leave the pitch with a dislocated shoulder
and the defender had to take over between the sticks. For the next 87
minutes he pulled off a string of unlikely saves to deny the visitors
and keep a clean sheet, Dennis Tueart heading home the only goal of the
game 14 minutes from time. That goal, and McDonald's magnificent
performance, put City on top of the table.
Sadly the run wasn't to last,
and after a disastrous slide which saw the team win only 10 games out
of the next 39 they were relegated on the very last day of the season,
losing 1-0 at home to Luton when a point would have been enough to keep
them up. This was to prove McDonald's last game for the club and he was
subsequently transferred to Oxford United in September 1983. (David Redshaw).
1972–1976 Aston Villa 39 (3)
1976–1981 Coventry City 161 (14)
1981–1983 Manchester City 96 (11)
1983–1987 Oxford United 94 (14)
1987–1988 Leeds United 18 (1)
1988 Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 (0)
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