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Squad Number 7

Real name	Scott McDonald
Height	5.08
NickName:	Skippy
Weight	12.04
Date of birth	21-08-1983
Place of birth	Melbourne
Position	Forward
Nationality	Australia
International Caps (to March 08)	6
International Goals (to March 08)	0
Signed on	05-06-2007
Fee	£700k from Motherwell

KDS Honours

• 15-Aug-07 MOTM 07-08 Sp Moscow 1 v 1 Celtic CL Qual
• 26-Sep-07 MOTM 07-08 Dundee 1 v 2 Celtic CIS
• 29-Sep-07 MOTM 0708 Celtic 3 v 0 Dundee Utd SPL
• 30-Sep-07 Sep-07 Player of the Month
• 07-Oct-07 MOTM 07-08 Gretna 1 v 2 Celtic SPL
• 27-Oct-07 MOTM 07-08 Celtic 3 v 0 Motherwell SPL
• 31-Oct-07 Oct-07 Player of the Month
• 03-Nov-07 MOTM 07-08 Killie 1 v 2 Celtic SPL
• 27-Apr-08 MOTM 07-08 Celtic 3 v 2 Rangers SPL

Biog
Scott McDonald began his career in his native Australia, where he started at Morwell Falcons. During this period, he learned his trade and aimed for a lucrative deal to Europe, preferably England. A year later, despite no league goals, then Southampton manager Gordon Strachan saw potential and snapped up the teenager as an apprentice. Despite this glamorous move, McDonald was limited to only two games for Southampton during his two years there and as a result moved to Huddersfield on loan for a season. Getting games and goals was the priority, and despite this he had to endure another season away from his club, going to Bournemouth on loan. This still wasn't enough for his manager, so a transfer to Milton Keynes Dons occurred and a fresh start was the main aim. Scott's troubles continued though, as he was again limited to few appearances for his club, and this never-ending spiral of bad luck continued.

Next season, 2004/05 season, McDonald made what would be a life changing move to Motherwell under Terry Butcher, Scott was guaranteed full games and rewarded his manager with goals regularly. Although making his move and scoring frequently, McDonald came to fame in the now infamous season-ending match against Celtic at Fir Park, where he would score two goals in the last five minutes to end Celtic's title hopes and hand the title to Rangers. After this, McDonald became a fans favourite to Motherwell, and his reputation boosted, as did his goals. Further on down his Motherwell career, more and more interest was being shown in the little Aussie. Teams such as Southend and Hearts were showing a keen interest, but that's not where his heart was destined. He carried on, and his good form carried to what would be his final season, where a total tally of 42 goals in three seasons was enough make him a target for both halfs of Glasgow. An initial bid of under £350k was knocked back by Motherwell from Rangers in January, although McDonald would have welcomed a move to a bigger club. But in March, McDonald secured a move to his boyhood heroes, where Celtic and Motherwell agreed a fee in the region of £700k, and he was on his way to fulfilling a long-lived dream.

McDonald made his anticipated debut in the Luzhniki Stadium, where he set up Paul Hartley to secure a vital draw away to Spartak Moscow in the 3rd Qualification Round of the Champions League. He then scored his first competitive goal in the return leg, where he opened the scoring in the 1-1 draw at Celtic Park against Moscow, where Celtic progressed in penalties. His first SPL goal came against St Mirren where he scored in the 5-1 rout away to the Saints. Since then, McDonald has gone from being a squad player to a first team starter, where a numerous amount of goals has also made him a fans favourite, and erasing the image of "Black Sunday". He also scored back-to-back hat-tricks at Celtic Park, including one against his former club. Another claim that McDonald holds is scoring in the last minute against the current European Champions; AC Milan. A loose save from Dida allowed McDonald to tap the ball in and ensure a famous 2-1 victory against the Rossoneri. McDonald finished the season as top scorer in the SPL, scoring an impressive 25 goals in his debut campaign. Along with this, Scott was nominated for the SPFA Player of the Year Award, but was beaten to it by teammate Aiden McGeady. Scott also finished runner up in the Kerrydale Street Player of the Year, again finishing a close second to eventual winner Aiden McGeady.

McDonald's international career has also been nothing short of excellent, where he now is a regular for the Socceroos. McDonald has represented his country at different levels, such as appearances at U-17, U-20 and U-23 level. At the age of 24, Scott has became a regular for his country, and promising appearances and being in the team for World Cup qualification looks to have sorted Scott for the long term in the national side.

One interesting trivial fact is that Scott is a very good cricket player and so much so that he had the choice of choosing to go into cricket, or go into football when he was younger.

In March 2008, Scott was named Australian FourFourTwo magazine's Overseas Player of the Year.


In June 2008, McDonald signed a new 5 year contract [BBC]


Summary
Agreed a transfer in March 2007 and signed in June [BBC]

Pictures

• Scott McDonald Pics

Interviews

• Interview with Age newspaper (Aussie newspaper) (Apr 08)

Quotes
"The fans here are fanatical about the game. It's their life: they eat, drink and sleep football. It's pretty hard to walk down the street and not be noticed. Sometimes you'd prefer just to escape all that but you appreciate you're fortunate to be living this opportunity. It's a nice feeling when somebody comes and asks for your autograph."
Scott McDonald (Apr 08)