The Selling of Supermac

Gordon Lee will be remembered in perpetuity as the man who sold Supermac and at the time he was happy to accept the responsibility for the decision. He was adamant that he'd used his "professional judgement " to make the right decision and claimed that "people in the game" would admire his "courage" .

As Lee and Macdonald waged a public slanging match Lee made numerous direct and indirect comments about Macdonald.

He started with indirect swipes by referring to players still at the club that he wouldn't dream of selling. "There are players at the club "that I would not sell if somebody came with a £300,000 offer" and that the only players that would be allowed to leave would be those "I feel wouldn't weaken the squad by their going"

Then got a bit more direct. "I don't want any stars here. These so-called stars who talk too much and don't work enough will never bring success".

"It was Malcolm or me. Either he went or I went. Now that Malcolm Macdonald has gone the players are trying harder than ever"

But to suggest that Macdonald left solely because of Lee is an over simplification of what had made Macdonald state that he was "fed up" at Newcastle and wanted out.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Macdonald did not respect Lee either as a coach or as a person and cites the manager's disgraceful treatment of Terry Hibbitt as the point where either he or the manager had to go.

Macdonald had enjoyed a great relationship with Joe Harvey who was also "very generous when it came to wage rises". Harvey regarded him as a star and treated him like one too

Lee of course had no time for stars and - according to Macdonald - would actively heap praise on his favourites whist denigrating and undermining the "old guard". Alan Gowling admits in his autobiography that Dinnis and Lee would actively encourage debate amongst the players about Macdonald's worth to the team

(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty

There were a lot of suggestions that Macdonald was after more money and the club did nothing to dispel the rumours. Not surprising as they wanted the fans to beleive they were the victims rather than the perpetrators.

But Ernie Clay (the same man who had supported George Eastham in his battle against United in 1960) was acting as Macdonald's spokesman and he was at great pains to state that it was not a money issue

"It is totally untrue for anyone to think he has asked for more money or a transfer. He doesn't even particularly want to leave Tyneside."

He also criticised the club for releasing false statements about the situation; claiming that the club had told Mac in private that they were willing to sell if they received an acceptable offer.

Certainly Macdonald was on good wages at United. In the tax year ending in 1976 he earned around £333 a week gross and he was on much better wages than any of the other players.

But new Government wage restrictions meant he was unable to negotiate a better contract for himself. The only way he could get more money would be to move clubs and benefit from a signing-on fee and/or a better contract. Not asking for a transfer allowed him to qualify for a 5% cut of the fee (£16,500 was his cut)

Since then Macdonald has admitted in his autobiographies that money was an issue. Tax rates at the time for someone on his earnings was 82.5% and this was one of the reasons he seriously considered moving abroad

You Just Might See Me Cry

In his latest autobiography Supermac talks of a meeting with Brian Clough during which Old Big 'ead advised him it was time to move on and how this got him thinking of spreading his wings.

In an earlier autobiography he went fuerther saying how he needed a "bigger arena" and was starting to feel claustrophobic".

"Water stagnates a lot quicker in a small pond than it does in a large one and I found I was stagnating a bit".

You Don't Have To Go

The directors were more than happy for Lee to take the blame for the sale of Macdonald, as Westwood admitted, he knew he would be "crucified by the public". They claimed they didn't want him to go but could they have done more to make him stay?

Although his contract had ended they still had a "one year option" on him which meant they could retain his services for another year even if he refused to sign a new contract. But the directors were in a difficult situation financially.

If they exercised their "option" Mac would be free to go the following summer and that could have cost United thousands of pounds. Proposals were being discussed by the Football League at the time that would lead to the replacement of the transfer system by "compensation payments". People within the game expected such payments to be much lower than the inflationary fees that were being paid.

The need to improve the ground to comply with Safety of Sports Ground Act added its own financial pressures at a time when the club was still trying to recover from the cost of the East Stand.

Lee has also suggested since that the club knew that Macdonald's knees were shot and that he would not be able to play first class football for much longer

You Just Might See Me Cry

If they had attempted to force him to honour his contract Macdonald - supported by Ernie Clay - was prepared to take the club, or anybody else for that matter, to court

He had been an outspoken critic of the option clause and had clashed with both the League Secretary and his own union on the issue. Clay stated on many occasions that Mac was "fighting for a principle"

Although he had vowed that he would not be "withdrawing his labour" and he did report for pre-season training in mid July the threat of a court case loomed large