One, two – buckle our shoe; three, four – two in the door. Yep, that’s how we say Alex MacDonald was an early 2023 summer signing! Of course, what we mean is that Boro’ revealed the arrival of the Scottish winger on the same day as Neil Freeman; it being a time when many were eager to see which men would be charged with the job of keeping us in League One. Here was a 33-year-old (at the time) who was happy to trade in Gillingham at the bottom end of League Two for us. In doing so, it’d be the third time he linked up with Steve Evans too.
He served Evans (and Boro’) well during his time at the club. But he didn’t quite get the run in the team he might have wished for. Still, that didn’t prevent us from offering him new terms at the end of his one-year deal. What proved to be the dealbreaker, perhaps, is that Evans had moved on by that point. And Macca would end up following the Scot north; signing for Rotherham United in June 2024. Had the lure of a higher level of football convinced him to join us from the Gills? Or was it the chance to work with Evans again? Well, his summer 2024 move may influence your thinking…
Alex MacDonald: Before Boro’
MacDonald made the move to the Gills in summer 2020; those heady days of will-we, won’t-we football brought about by Covid-19. In his time with the club, he featured regularly and even stepped up to assist caretaker gaffer, Steve Lovell, after Steve Evans got the sack. The club who let the winger move to Kent was Mansfield Town; that being ironic in some respects as MacDonald played for Evans there too.
For the Warrington-born player, the career path started out at Burnley as a youth team member. He also turned pro at Turf Moor in 2008. But he didn’t get too many first team chances in his five years as a pro for the Clarets. It explains a number of loan spells in the years between 2008 and 2013. These included two in Scotland (Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle), as well as two separate stints down in the south west at Plymouth Argyle. In January 2013, he moved on loan to Burton Albion – before making the deal permanent at the end of the season.