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Alan McDonald
Personal information
Full name	Alan McDonald
Date of birth	12 October 1963 (1963-10-12) (age 46)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Playing position	Central Defender (Retired)
Club information
Current club	Glentoran (manager)
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1981-1997 1983 1997-1998	Queens Park Rangers → Charlton Athletic (loan) Swindon Town Career	402 (13) 009 0(0) 033 0(1) 444 (14)
National team
1986-1996	Northern Ireland	052 0(3)
Teams managed
2007-present	Glentoran
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Alan McDonald (born 12 October 1963 in Belfast) is current manager of Irish Premier League side Glentoran and former footballer with Queens Park Rangers and Northern Ireland. He was appointed manager of Glentoran in June 2007.

Club career

A 6' 2", 180 lbs defender, 'Macca' joined QPR in the early 1980s as a youth and spent 17 years with the club. Unable to break into the first-team early on in his career, he got his first league experience while on loan at Charlton Athletic. McDonald and QPR reached the final of the League Cup in 1986. By the late 1980s McDonald was playing as stopper in QPR's sweeper system. The club's best finish came in 1993 when they ended in fifth place in the Premiership. Their worst came in 1996 when they were relegated.^[1]

McDonald went to Swindon Town on a free transfer in 1997, making 36 appearances and scoring once in his last season as player, 1997-98.^[2]

International career

McDonald played 52 times for Northern Ireland including the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and has been assistant coach of the Under 21 side since 2002.^[3]

Coaching career

Upon retiring, he became Swindon's reserves coach, leaving the club in 2002. He briefly returned to Loftus Road in 2006 as assistant to Gary Waddock but was released upon the arrival of John Gregory. McDonald was appointed as first team coach of Irish Premier League side Glentoran in February 2007 working under manager Paul Millar. Following Millar's departure Glentoran eventually appointed McDonald as manager in June 2007.^[4]. Glentoran won the Irish League title in McDonald's first full season with the club in 2008/09 following a final day 3-1 victory over Cliftonville.

References

Northern Ireland squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Jennings • 2 Nicholl • 3 Donaghy • 4 O'Neill • 5 McDonald • 6 McCreery • 7 Penney • 8 McIlroy • 9 Quinn • 10 Whiteside • 11 Stewart • 12 Platt • 13 Hughes • 14 Armstrong • 15 Worthington • 16 Ramsey • 17 Clarke • 18 McClelland • 19 Hamilton • 20 McNally • 21 Campbell • 22 Caughey • Coach: Bingham