Scott McDonald shares the sporting beliefs of his fellow countrymen, which is why he's backing Australia to win this summer's World Cup in South Africa. It is that single mindedness that has served him well throughout his career, as Sports Writer Andy Richardson discovered.
SCOTT McDONALD remembers Tuesday, September 11 2001 for very personal reasons it was the day he made his debut in English football.
Like most of us he spent the afternoon in front of his TV watching the unfolding horror as the twin towers crumbled to dust.
McDonald was sharing a hotel room with Southampton club captain Claus Lundekvam, who'd taken the young Aussie under his wing to ensure he prepared correctly for the Saints' evening League Cup tie at Brighton. But instead of following their manager's orders to take a nap, the pair sat on their single beds transfixed by the images that changed the world forever.
With 9/11 kicking off there was no way I was going to get any sleep. It was horrific stuff.
I don't know if it was the prematch adrenalin or what we could see on the TV but it all felt unreal, said McDonald, whose accent bears more traces from his time in Scotland than his Australian upbringing.
In hindsight it seems incredible that any football matches were played on that fateful day. McDonald admits the news reports shook him to the core but the desire to make his first team bow was an even stronger impulse.
As a boy in the suburbs of Melbourne, a city where Aussie Rules ruled, the eldest son of John and Ray McDonald had a bedroom where Celtic team posters vied for wall space with images of cricket heroes Allan Border and Dean Jones. These were visible signs of a sporting-mad youngster, who was torn between Scotland, the country of his parents' birth, and Australia, the land he'll represent at this summer's World Cup Finals.
There was never any doubt that he would be a footballer, his father saw to that. And his paternal grandfather's regular trips back to the old country ensured that he and his brothers, Cameron and Lachlan, always sported that season's Celtic jersey.
One of the first things I was bought was a football.
The first game I played in was when I was fiveyears- old. I just remember that I had these big, bloody baggy shorts on that didn't fit me. They certainly wouldn't fit me now either, but that's because my arse has got that big!
It was hard to get a game of soccer going at school. So I played for local teams in Victoria but never for a moment did I think it would progress to this.
By this he means helping fire Middlesbrough back into the Premier League and winning the World Cup Final in South Africa. When it comes to sporting achievement there are no limits to an Aussie's ambitions.
Make no mistake about it the people back home expect us to win the tournament this summer. Stop laughing, I'm serious. The English fear defeat too much but Australians always believe that they can win.
That is one of the reasons why we have so many successful sports people it's that belief, an arrogance maybe that we can be the best.
I suppose I have that feeling too.
That arrogance served him well on his Southampton debut. He was named man-ofthe- match and went on to play two more first team games, including a 3-1 victory at Middlesbrough.
Southampton had a reputation for promoting youth. The likes of Matt Le Tissier, Wayne Bridge, Francis Benali, Jason Dodd, so from my perspective I thought I could be the next one. It was going really well.
A month later McDonald's Southampton career was effectively over.
Gordon Strachan had been appointed manager and he didn't rate the young Aussie striker.
It's not the start you'd like in any relationship.
I'd have to be honest and say that I didn't like him (Strachan) at that time. You think you've made it and then it gets snatched away.
By the time I realised that I was going to have to knuckle down and prove myself Southampton had released me. It took me ages to get over it.
It was a hammer blow to McDonald, who'd made Southampton his home after being spotted in the Under-17s World Cup when Australia lost the final with Brazil on a penalty shoot-out.
Adriano was in the Brazil side. I didn't actually get to take a penalty, which is just as well when you look at the one I missed at Blackpool last month.
McDonald was only 15 but his performance in the tournament sparked a tug-ofwar between the Australia Institute of Sport (AIS) and Premier League Southampton.
People like Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton had been down the AIS route.
But I chose the other path.
He'd been the youngest ever player to appear in the Australian National Soccer League with Gippsland Falcons and now felt ready to spread his wings.
In Southampton we lived in a converted B&B and were well looked after. My mother rang me to ask how I was doing and I said that I loved it. I think she was ready for killing me. That's the last thing that your mother wants to hear because she dearly misses you and reckons you should feel the same.
Obviously I missed my folks loads, but I loved the freedom, learning a new culture and becoming a man.
Some of the young boys at Middlesbrough could do with that, they don't even know how to turn on a bloody washing machine!
I later moved out to a flat of my own and met my girlfriend, who is now my wife.
Strachan turned McDonald's south coast idyll on its head.
I was on the verge of going back to Australia. I joined Bournemouth then Wimbledon. That was the worst time of my life, commuting to London every day.
My head wasn't right and I was ready to try out for the (Australian) A League. My agent Dave McPherson, the ex- Rangers player, asked me to go up and see Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas at Motherwell.
After three days' training they offered me a contract.
Being wanted made me feel at home straightaway.
There are stories that I failed a trial at Dundee United after I stopped for a pee on a cross-country run.
That story just isn't true. I think it was put out by the club later when I scored against them.
I loved it at Motherwell. My dad was so proud for me to be playing in Scotland. It was like a home away from home. My aunty lived in East Kilbride so I settled in really quickly, which is so important for a young footballer.
Averaging close to a goal every other game in his three seasons at Fir Park, including a brace that denied Celtic the Premier League title, prompted an offer from Rangers that Motherwell rejected.
I wanted desperately to go.
The chance of Champions League football and trophies,
he recalls.
Before the end of the season McDonald was told that an offer from Celtic, now managed by Strachan, had been accepted.
All my father's family were Celtic fans, so I was brainwashed from a young age.
My mum's dad was a Rangers fanatic and he would bring Rangers tops and teddy bears. I would try to pass them on to my younger brothers but none of us touched them. It was weird it being Gordon Strachan, the same bloke who'd let me go at Southampton, but it was a case of where do I sign'
He was regarded initially as a squad player behind strikers Kenny Miller, Majic Zurawski and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, but in his first season McDonald's 31 goals helped Celtic win the title.
It felt like I'd finally arrived. My all-round game improved under the gaffer.
Finishing is something you've either got or you haven't but you can polish other parts of your game just look at Rooney with his heading.
Champions League nights at Parkhead were amazing.
I was sad to leave but it felt like the right time. People ask why didn't I hold out for a Premier League club, but the gaffer had given me the best years of my career and he'll make me an even better player with Middlesbrough.
I'm a better man for that experience with him at Southampton.
I now speak to the gaffer man-to-man and I see him in a totally different light to when I first met him. We have a great relationship.
McDonald has bought a house within kicking distance of Middlesbrough's training ground and his first child is due in two weeks.
It was imperative that if we were going to make the move to the North-East we could settle quickly. It feels right, it feels like home.
Source: Northern Echo
Source: Northern Echo