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Steve Russell
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Posts: 1986
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:25 am

In Memory of Macca......

Post by Steve Russell »

One of Big Dave Evett’s personal memories:

‘A friend of mine asked me if I would get him two tickets for the Manchester United game.
The only thing was that my request was in the same week as the match, which was all sold out.

My mate’s wife was a fan but had never been to a match. Heather was in her late 40’s and had
been diagnosed with breast cancer (she’s all cured now and still doing well).

I told him that I would try Macca but it might not be possible. When I asked him he told me that
his allocation had all gone.

However, on the Thursday before the match I had a call to say that he had managed to get hold
of two tickets. Heather was so excited when I gave her the news.

On the day of the game I met Colin and Heather outside the ground. Eventually Mac came out
and handed Heather the tickets. She was so overwhelmed even to meet the big fella that she cried.
But to top it there were also two Players Lounge tickets for after the match.

After the game, Macca arranged for some photos to be taken with a group of Manchester United players.
What a day it was for them!

Mac was living in Long Lane, Hillingdon at the time and two weeks later he was talking about
sorting his garden out. So I mentioned this to Colin who just happened to be a landscape contractor.

Next thing he said: “Let Mac know I will be at his place on his day off” (Thursday). He took a team of
three lads and pruned all the shrubs, cut the grass etc etc and spent the best part of a day there.

Macca was thrilled and Colin said to him: “You made my wife happy, I have tried to make you happy.”
He then shook hands and left.

A good few days were had by all, what comes around goes around.’

Alan McDonald – a true QPR legend who will never be forgotten.
Steve Russell
Site Admin
Posts: 1986
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:25 am

Re: In Memory of Macca......

Post by Steve Russell »

Moving tribute from 2012....

Dave Anderson was too upset to appear on BBC London’s weekly Non-League Football Show last Monday.
His very moving tribute to Macca is from the West London Sport website – Steve Russell

‘I’m incredibly sad today, but I’m also very proud to be able to say that Alan McDonald – a legend who
meant so much to so many people – was my friend. We were the best of mates over many years.

In fact, I met my wife at his wedding. We were best men at each other’s weddings. I’m godfather to
two of his girls and he’s my daughter’s godfather.

We were at school together and also played for Northern Ireland schoolboys – that’s how far we go back.
He moved from Belfast to join QPR as a teenager, as did our friend Ian Stewart.

And after a spell living in Manchester, I joined them in London in 1985. It was Mac and Ian
who encouragedme to go into coaching when I retired because of an injury and might otherwise
have walked away from the game.

Mac and I did everything together. We holidayed together, we talked about everything. Before any major
decision I’ve ever made I’ve spoken to him first. He’s always been either on the end of a phone or on the
end of a pint, depending on where we’ve been at the time.

QPR fans will remember him as a man who gave you everything. And that’s exactly what he was like as a
friend too. He was never interested in talking about himself. He could play for QPR at Highbury on a Saturday
and that evening would only want to talk about how I’d got on managing North Greenford United that day.

You hear people say about footballers that the fame never changed them. Well in Mac’s case I can honestly
say it didn’t. He was a born leader of men, but also humble. So humble in fact, that when we were holidaying
in Africa about 20 years ago, we met a group of lads and when they asked what we did, he told them
he was a bricklayer.

But when we had a kickabout with them, he treated it like the FA Cup Final. He was organising, barking out
instructions and telling the guys where they should be. He couldn’t help it. As soon as you put a football near
him that’s what he was like.

These fellas quickly realised that Mac was no Sunday league player. When he eventually told them who he
was they knew the name, they just didn’t believe it could be this guy laughing along with the lads.
That was Mac for you, the captain of QPR and Northern Ireland, who’d happily go along and have a drink
with the guys in the LSA (QPR Loyal Supporters Association) or join Rangers fans for a kickabout in the park.

And the banter was relentless. He never let up, was always planning some kind of prank on someone, and
in David Bardsley he had a real partner in crime. Those two together were unbelievable.
He always wanted to win though. Make no mistake about that.

I played football with him. I played golf with him. I played Trivial Pursuit with him – and if you beat him
he’d throw the board away ! He was passionate about football and he truly loved QPR. Being released by
the club in 1997 really hurt him. Mac was a genuine one-club man.

He loved Rangers and didn’t want to play for anyone else, so to leave the place was very difficult for him.
And the fans loved him back.

The word legend is used far too much, but even before the terrible news, you wouldn’t have found a QPR fan
who’d have said Mac wasn’t a genuine legend. He was like Stan Bowles in that people loved him not only
because of the player he was, but because he was a man of the people too.

He was a legend, yet at the same time he was of them. Many of the time I was left with Mac’s stuff while
he was signing autographs and meeting fans.

With him they didn’t just get an autograph or a picture, they were left feeling he had time for them and liked
being around them – and he did.

Mac was happiest and most comfortable when he was around people, laughing and joking and having a drink.
That’s shown by the fact that many QPR fans who met him once for a few minutes will tell you they still
remember it years later.

You still get QPR fans saying: “I remember being with Macca in the pub that time”
and they can tell you all about it. It’s a unique person they’re talking about.

When I hear things like that it makes me realise how privileged I am to have been close to him and shared
so much with him for so many years. He was a genuine legend and a wonderful mate.

We’ll all really miss him.’

Dave Anderson – Harrow Borough Manager
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