Sporting Bygones: The good times are back for a Geordie folk hero

Of the many who failed, few crashed as quickly and spectacularly as Malcolm Macdonald, one of the great strikers of the English game in the Seventies and a man who is still revered on Tyneside.

Going back to the days of Hughie Gallacher, through to "Wor Jackie" Milburn and on to Alan Shearer, the Newcastle fans have adored their centre-forwards, none more so than 'Supermac' whose pace, shooting power and sheer athleticism made him a folk hero.

Yet his playing career began modestly enough, as a full-back with Tonbridge Angels, before he moved to Fulham and in 1969, by then converted to striker, switched allegiance to Luton.

There, in 88 matches, he scored 49 goals with a bravado which persuaded Joe Harvey, the man charged with taking Newcastle on from their 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup triumph with the aim of the League title itself, to take out the chequebook.

Harvey, Newcastle's captain during their successful FA Cup years in the Fifties, paid 180,000 for Macdonald, a bargain in the May of 1971 and a risible amount by today's standards, and the player quickly began to repay his manager's outlay and faith as well as earning a place in the hearts of those on the terraces at St James Park.

His first two games in the black-and-white stripes brought a nil return in terms of goals but he then exploded into the national spotlight with a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Liverpool, who had a youngster called Kevin Keegan making his debut.

In his five barrel-chested, bandy-legged years with Newcastle, Macdonald played 187 games and scored 95 goals, a strike-rate which earned him 14 England caps, his debut coming against Wales just a year after moving to the North East.

In those 14 appearances he scored just six goals, one in a 2-0 win against the then World Cup-holders West Germany and five in a European Championship qualifier against Cyprus.

Harvey failed to turn Newcastle into champions and paid the price, as did Arsenal when they persuaded Macdonald to move back to his native London in 1976, his value by now having soared to 333,000.

In two seasons with the Gunners, he scored 42 goals in 84 appearances but then, at the start of the 1978-9 season, he suffered a serious knee injury in a League Cup match against Rotherham United.

He could never regain the fitness which had seen him once run 100m in 10.4secs in TV's Superstars show – a time which would have earned him a place in the Great Britain team for the 1976 Montreal Olympics – and after a desultory few months with Djurgardens in Sweden he declared his playing career was over in August, 1979 at just 29.

He seemed a natural for management and sure enough the chance soon came, Fulham taking him on after he had had just a year out of the game. Fulham's players responded on the field and they earned promotion from the Third Division in the 1981-82 season and seemed certainties go through to the top flight the following year, only for a slump in fortunes over the closing stages to condemn them to finish fourth.

Fulham never regained their impetus and Macdonald was replaced as manager by Ray Harford in 1984, continuing to earn a living on the fringes of the game with TV and newspaper work.

Over three years later he would make a remarkable comeback to management, in the most unlikely of places.

Huddersfield Town had made a poor start to the 1987-88 season and by October were deep in trouble, so deep that manager Steve Smith volunteered to step down and return to his previous role as chief scout and youth team coach.

Smith's offer was taken up by chairman Roger Fielding, whose initial choice as replacement was Stan Ternent, then in charge at Bradford City. Ternent was persuaded by Fielding's counterpart at City, Stafford Heginbotham, to stay at Valley Parade.

Town's next move – perhaps not surprising for Fielding, who had made his money from managing lotteries world-wide – was to go for a "name" and there were few available bigger in that department than Malcolm Macdonald, despite the fact that he had been out of mainstream football for three-and-a-half years.

Macdonald was unveiled, complete with the inevitable scarf, on October 12 and Town's fortunes underwent a brief upturn but it all went disastrously wrong on November 7 when they were hammered 10-1 by Manchester City at Maine Road, TV coverage piling on the embarrassment as three City players, Paul Stewart, Tony Adcock and David White scored hat-tricks.

From December 12, Town won only two more matches as they slid towards the foot of the Second Division and chairman Fielding stepped down as chairman on March 11, Keith Longbottom returning in his place.

Just eight weeks later, Longbottom made the inevitable decision to sack Macdonald, who had two-and-a-half years left on his contract. 'Supermac's' seven-month stay at Leeds Road had proved an expensive failure for the club; they had won just six of their 44 league games, conceding exactly 100 goals.

That was just the start of a depressing period for the former hero of Tyneside. He was declared bankrupt following a failed business venture, he was divorced from his second wife and, struggling with the pain from his long-standing knee injury, he developed an alcohol dependency.

But he took his last drink in 1997 and is now enjoying life again with his own radio show in which he interviews other footballing legends, a new knee and a stream of after-dinner speaking appearances.

The good times are back for 'Supermac'.