Alex MacDonald (footballer, born 1990)

Alex MacDonald

MacDonald playing for Burnley in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Alexander MacDonald[1]
Date of birth	14 April 1990[1]
Place of birth	Warrington, England
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Playing position	Winger/Forward
Club information
Current team	Oxford United
Number	11
Youth career
2006–2008	Burnley
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2008–2013	Burnley	11	(0)
2009	→ Falkirk (loan)	11	(0)
2011	→ Inverness Caledonian Thistle (loan)	10	(1)
2012	→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)	18	(4)
2012	→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)	16	(1)
2013	→ Burton Albion (loan)	15	(1)
2013–2015	Burton Albion	56	(7)
2015–	Oxford United	33	(4)
National team
2008–2009	Scotland U19	8	(7)
2010–2012	Scotland U21	6	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:14, 29 November 2015 (UTC). † Appearances (goals)

Alexander "Alex" MacDonald (born 14 April 1990) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Oxford United. His previous clubs include Burnley, Falkirk, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Plymouth Argyle and Burton Albion. He has represented Scotland at under-19 and under-21 level.

Career

Club

MacDonald started his career in the youth team at Burnley and signed a two-year scholarship in 2006, after previously having a trial at Liverpool. He impressed for the youth team and was voted Youth Team Player of the Year for the 2007–08 season, being rewarded with a professional contract in the summer of 2008.^[2] He made his debut on 26 April 2008, coming on as a substitute for Wade Elliott in the Championship 3–3 draw against Cardiff City in the final home game of the season.^[3] He also featured a week later in the final game of the season, a 5–0 defeat to Crystal Palace. In the 2008–09 season he featured mainly in the reserve side; however, he did make six appearances as a substitute for the first team, with his first coming in a 3–2 away win over Sheffield United. He also featured heavily in the FA Cup, making three appearances in the run to the sixth round, which came to an end in a 3–0 defeat against Arsenal.

When Burnley got promoted to the Premier League in May 2009 via the play-offs, MacDonald struggled to fight for a place in the team and joined Scottish Premier League side Falkirk on a six-month loan in July.^[4] He made his debut for the Bairns on 16 July 2009 in the Europa League second qualifying round tie first leg tie against FC Vaduz of Liechenstein, starting the match in a 1–0 win.^[5] He made thirteen appearances in all competitions during his stay with the Scottish club, scoring no goals before returning to Turf Moor in January 2010. He suffered a double hernia injury towards the end of the season and did not feature for the rest of the campaign. He suffered greater troubles when his mother died in March, but he continued to train as usual with the first team as the Clarets were relegated from the Premier League.^[6]

MacDonald thought he would feature more in the 2010–11 season under Brian Laws in the Championship, but he didn't find himself in contention for the first team and was again sent on loan again to Scotland in January 2010, joining SPL side Inverness Caledonian Thistle until the end of the season.^[7] He made his first appearance for Terry Butcher's side on 5 February 2011, in 5–1 victory over Morton in the Scottish Cup second round, coming on as a substitute for Adam Rooney. He scored his first goal for the club 5 March 2011, scoring with his first touch in a 3–0 win over Motherwell in the SPL after coming on as a substitute.

After a very impressive pre-season in 2011, MacDonald finally broke back into the Burnley team on 20 August 2011, coming on as a late substitute for Ross Wallace in a 1–1 draw against Cardiff City.^[8] On 31 January 2012, he was loaned to League Two side Plymouth Argyle on an emergency loan until 6 March.^[9] MacDonald extended his loan with the club until the end of the campaign on 28 February.^[10]

On 31 August 2012 Alex re-signed for Plymouth Argyle until 6 October on an emergency loan. On 1 October, after his loan spell was extended, Alex expressed his liking for the club and the city by saying that he wanted a permanent move to Plymouth.^[11] On 4 December, he returned to Burnley from his loan spell.^[12] On 31 January 2013, he joined League Two side Burton Albion on an initial one-month loan.^[13] After his release from Burnley in May 2013, MacDonald joined Burton on a two-year contract.^[14]

On 2 February 2015, MacDonald joined Oxford United on a two-and-a-half-year contract.^[15]

International

MacDonald was born in England, but qualified to play for Scotland through his father. He scored in his second appearance for the under-19s against Azerbaijan on 20 October 2008 and scored two more against San Marino a couple of days later.^[16] In his fifth match for the team, against France on 25 February 2009, MacDonald captained the side and scored twice.^[16] In total, he received eight caps at under-19 level and scored seven goals.^[16] He made his under-21 debut on 17 November 2010 against Northern Ireland and scored his first goal for the team in his fourth appearance, against Luxembourg.^[17] He dedicated the goal to his mother, Janette, who died 18 months earlier at the age of 40.^[18]

Career statistics

As of match played on 28 November 2015.

Club statistics

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Burnley	2007–08[19]	Championship	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
	2008–09[20]	Championship	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	2009–10[21]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2010–11[22]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2011–12[23]	Championship	5	0	1	0	1	0	—		7	0
	2012–13[24]	Championship	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	Total		11	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	17	0
Falkirk (loan)	2009–10[25]	Scottish Premier League	11	0	0	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	13	0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle (loan)	2010–11[26]	Scottish Premier League	10	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
Plymouth Argyle (loan)	2011–12[27]	League Two	18	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	4
	2012–13[28]	League Two	16	1	0	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 2]	1	17	2
	Total		34	5	0	0	0	0	1	1	35	6
Burton Albion (loan)	2012–13[29]	League Two	15	1	0	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	17	1
Burton Albion	2013–14[30]	League Two	35	0	3	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	41	0
	2014–15[31]	League Two	21	7	1	0	2	0	1[lower-alpha 2]	0	25	7
	Total		71	8	4	0	3	0	5	0	83	8
Oxford United	2014–15[32]	League Two	15	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	3
	2015–16[33]	League Two	18	1	2	0	2	0	2	1	24	2
	Total		33	4	2	0	2	0	2	0	39	5
Career totals			149	17	10	0	7	0	10	2	174	19

1. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
2. Appearances in Football League Trophy
3. Appearance in Football League Two play-offs

References

1. Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.
2. "Alex MacDonald". Burnley F.C. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
3. "Memorable day for young Clarets striker Alex MacDonald". Burnley Citizen. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
4. "Falkirk bring in three new faces". BBC Sport. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
5. "Alex makes European debut". Claretsmad. 16 July 2009. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
6. "Burnley FC mourning after death of Alex MacDonald's mum (40)". Burnley Express. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
7. "Burnley's Alex MacDonald joins Inverness on loan". BBC Sport. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
8. http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/page/MatchReport/0,,10413~57918,00.html
9. http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/page/LatestHeadlines/0,,10413~2595052,00.html
10. http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Alex-MacDonald-s-delighted-extend-stay-Home-Park/story-15341277-detail/story.html
11. "Macca back with the Pilgrims". Burnley FC. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
12. "MacDonald keen on Plymouth switch". Claretsmad. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
13. "Brewers Add Fire Power". Burton Albion. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
14. "Burton: Alex MacDonald, Dominic Knowles and Adam Reed sign". BBC Sport. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
15. "Transfer Deadline Day: Oxford sign Burton's Alex MacDonald". BBC Sport. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
16. "Alexander MacDonald – U19 Squad". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
17. "Alexander MacDonald – U21 Squad". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
18. "Super Mac on Target For Scots". Burnley F.C. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
19. "Burnley 2007/2008 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
20. "Burnley 2008/2009 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
21. "Burnley 2009/2010 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
22. "Burnley 2010/2011 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
23. "Burnley 2011/2012 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
24. "Burnley 2012/2013 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
25. "Falkirk 2009/2010 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
26. "Inverness CT 2010/2011 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
27. "Plymouth 2011/2012 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
28. "Plymouth 2012/2013 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
29. "Burton 2012/2013 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
30. "Burton 2013/2014 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
31. "Burton 2014/2015 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
32. "Oxford 2014/2015 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
33. "Oxford 2015/2016 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2015-11-01.

External links

• Alexander MacDonald career statistics at Soccerbase
• Alex MacDonald profile at burnleyfootballclub.com