Shaun MacDonald

Template:Similar names

**Shaun Benjamin MacDonald** (born 17 June 1988) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for English club Crewe Alexandra. A product of the Swansea City youth team, he has four caps for Wales and is the current record caps holder for the Wales Under 21 team with 25 caps. As well as Swansea, MacDonald has previously played club football for Yeovil Town (on loan), AFC Bournemouth, Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United.

## Club career

### Swansea City

MacDonald was born in Swansea, and began his career with his home side Swansea City, making his way up through the youth ranks before being making his first-team debut on 31 August 2005 in a 3–1 defeat to Reading in the League Cup. He went on to make a total of 13 appearances in all competitions during his first season, including playing four times in the Football League Trophy as Swansea went on to win the trophy.

He scored his first goals for the club during the 2008–09 season against Brentford in the League Cup on 12 August 2008, but after making just six appearances during the season, he was allowed to join League One side Yeovil Town on a one-month loan deal on 27 January 2009. On his debut for the side, MacDonald scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win over Huddersfield Town, going on to make a total of four appearances before returning to Swansea.

After making just three appearances during the start of the 2009–10 season, MacDonald returned to Yeovil Town on a three-month loan deal on 21 September. MacDonald impressed for Yeovil in his three-month loan spell starting all 12 of Yeovil's league games and grabbing 2 goals.

Once he returned to Swansea, negotiation began with Yeovil regarding a loan deal back at Yeovil until the end of the 2009–10 season. The loan deal was agreed on 31 December 2009.

In late August 2010, MacDonald returned to Yeovil on loan for the fourth time in less than two years until January 2011.

He joined Yeovil on loan for the fifth time on 17 March 2011, until the end of the 2010–11 season. He scored a first half hat-trick on 26 March 2011 in a 5–1 win over Leyton Orient.

### AFC Bournemouth

MacDonald signed for AFC Bournemouth on 25 August 2011, for a fee believed to be in the region of £125,000. He scored his first goal for Bournemouth in a 4–1 Football League Trophy win over Hereford United on 30 August 2011. His first league goal for the club came on 21 April 2012 against Colchester United. He made five league appearances during Bournemouth's 2014–15 season after which they were promoted to the Premier League. MacDonald made his Premier League debut as a substitute against Manchester City on 17 October 2015.

### Wigan Athletic

MacDonald returned to the Championship and signed for newly promoted Wigan Athletic on 13 August 2016. MacDonald scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw against Leeds United on 18 October 2016. He missed all of the 2017-18 campaign after suffering a broken leg in a defeat at Reading in April 2017.

### Rotherham United

On 3 June 2019, following his release from Wigan Athletic, MacDonald signed for League One side Rotherham United on a two-year deal. His time at the club was impacted by illness and injury, with a virus keeping him out of the side for a significant spell during the 2019–20 season, and a broken leg side-lining him for over two months in the middle of the 2020–21 season. On 17 May 2021, Rotherham United published their retained list, and confirmed MacDonald would be leaving the club at the end of his contract.

### Crewe Alexandra

On 24 June 2021, it was announced that Macdonald had agreed to join Crewe Alexandra on a two-year deal.

## International career

MacDonald has represented his country at under-19 and Under-21 levels. In June 2009 he was called into the full national squad for the World Cup qualifier in Azerbaijan in Baku. After playing his 22nd game at under-21 level he surpassed the Welsh appearance record previously set by James Thomas.

MacDonald made his full international debut on 12 October 2010 against Switzerland in Basel and earned his second cap against Israel in a 2016 European Championships qualifying match in 2015.

### Club

Template:Updated

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Appearances in Football League Trophy
2. ↑ Appearances in EFL Trophy
**Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".**

### International

Template:Updated

Appearances and goals by national team and year
 Total | 4 | 0

## Honours

Swansea City
* Football League Trophy: 2005–06

AFC Bournemouth
* Football League Championship: 2014–15
* Football League One Runners-up: 2011–12

## References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

1. ↑ Reading 3–1 Swansea (aet). BBC Sport (31 August 2005). Retrieved on June 30, 2009.
2. ↑ Carlisle 1–2 Swansea. BBC Sport (2 April 2006). Retrieved on June 30, 2009.
3. ↑ Swansea 2–0 Brentford. BBC Sport (12 August 2008). Retrieved on June 30, 2009.
4. ↑ Yeovil Town make double signing. BBC Sport (27 January 2009). Retrieved on June 30, 2009.
5. ↑ Yeovil 1–0 Huddersfield. BBC Sport (27 January 2009). Retrieved on June 30, 2009.
6. ↑ Welcome back Mac. ytfc.co.uk (21 September 2009). Archived from the original on September 25, 2009. Retrieved on September 21, 2009.
7. ↑ Return of the Macs. ytfc.co.uk (31 December 2009). Archived from the original on October 7, 2011.
8. ↑ Swan Shaun MacDonald joins Yeovil in a fifth loan spell. BBC Sport (17 March 2011). Retrieved on March 17, 2011.
9. ↑ MacDonald Commits Future To Cherries. AFCB.co.uk (25 August 2011). Retrieved on August 25, 2011.
10. ↑ Cherries 4 Bulls 1. afcb.co.uk (31 August 2011). Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved on September 23, 2015.
11. ↑ Bournemouth 1–1 Colchester. BBC (21 April 2012). Retrieved on September 23, 2015.
12. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
13. ↑ Man City 5–1 Bournemouth. BBC (17 October 2015). Retrieved on October 18, 2015.
14. ↑ Shaun MacDonald: Wigan Athletic sign Bournemouth midfielder. BBC Sport (13 August 2016). Retrieved on August 13, 2016.
15. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Shaun MacDonald: Rotherham United sign midfielder after Wigan exit. BBC Sport (3 June 2019). Retrieved on June 3, 2019.
17. ↑ Shaun MacDonald: Rotherham United midfielder ruled out until new year with broken leg. BBC Sport (5 November 2020).
18. ↑ Rotherham United: Number of injury worries for Millers ahead of FA Cup trip. *The Star*. JPIMedia (8 November 2020).
19. ↑ Retained list confirmed by Millers ahead of 2021/22 campaign. Rotherham United F.C. (17 May 2021).
20. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
21. ↑ Shaun MacDonald. Soccerbase. Retrieved on October 19, 2015.
22. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
23. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
24. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Template:Soccerbase season
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Template:Soccerbase season
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Template:Soccerbase season
28. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
29. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
30. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
31. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
32. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
33. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
34. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
35. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
36. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
37. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
38. ↑ Template:NFT player
**Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".**

## External links

* Template:Soccerbase

Template:Crewe Alexandra F.C. Squad