McDonald, Kevin
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Biographical Text
Kevin McDonald, a former Scottish international, joined Exeter City in January 2023 on a contract until the end of the season. After making a favourable impact with three goals from eleven appearances Kevin chose not to accept the offer of a contract extension and signed for Bradford City before returning to St James' Park just over a year later.
Kevin’s career began at Dundee where he spent three years before a £250,000 move to Championship side Burnley in 2008. Whilst at Turf Moor Kevin had loan spells at Scunthorpe and Notts County before signing for Sheffield United in 2011. From Bramall Lane, Kevin moved to the then-third tier Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2013 where he would win a League One championship medal and be named in the divisional team of the year. A transfer to Championship side Fulham followed in summer of 2016 for a reported £1.25 million fee.
Kevin was to spend five seasons at Craven Cottage during which time the club was promoted to the Premier League, relegated and promoted back to the top flight. Kevin was a regular in his first two seasons but still featured in fifteen Premier League games in 2018/19 and a similar number in the second promotion season. Unfortunately Kevin was unable to play in Fulham’s Premier League return in 2020/21 because of a kidney problem that eventually led to him receiving a transplant from his brother in April 2021. He left Fulham shortly afterwards.
During his time at Fulham Kevin played five times for Scotland after appearing for the under-21s earlier in his career. All Kevin’s full-international appearances came in 2018 starting with a friendly against Costa Rica. He had previously been in squads when at Wolves without playing. Later, after his transplant, Kevin briefly played for Dundee United but had not played since May 2022 when he joined Exeter the following January.
Arriving at St James' Park, Kevin made his debut for Exeter as a second-half substitute against Charlton Athletic on 4 February 2023 and scored his first goal for the club (and his own first since 2018) against Cambridge United on 25 February 2023. Following up with goals against Wycombe and Fleetwood, Kevin was offered a contract extension into 2023/24 but chose to turn this down in favour of signing for Bradford City. His final appearance for the Grecians was at Peterborough United on 10 April 2023.
Three months into his career as a Bradford City player, Kevin briefly served as caretaker manager following the departure of Mark Hughes in October 2023. Remaining as a player under new manager Graham Alexander, he made nineteen league appearances during the 2023/24 campaign before leaving Valley Parade at the end of August 2024 and later maintaining his fitness training with Exeter City.
Thereafter, in November 2024, it was announced that Kevin had returned to the Grecians on a short-term basis and he promptly made an appearance as a late substitute at Wrexham before making his first start of his second spell as a Grecian against Wycombe Wanderers on 3 December 2024.
Appearances
League 11
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