THE LONG READ: KEVIN MCDONALD

This is Kevin McDonald’s first interview for the Club website since June 2021.

That one was conducted from his hospital bed, just six days after he’d undergone a kidney transplant.

It was to give him the chance to say goodbye to the fans, in tandem with the announcement that he would be leaving Fulham at the end of the month.

Such interviews can be emotionally charged affairs at the best of times, but the timing of that one – with Kev having received an overwhelming number of well wishes from supporters ahead of his operation – made it particularly poignant.

“It’s emotional when you touch on things like that, of course it is,” Kev recalls of that time of his life. “It’s always going to be a bit of a touchy subject, and when you get that support, first and foremost from Fulham fans, it was absolutely incredible. The number of messages I got was just amazing. I have a great connection with Fulham fans, the best I’ve had for sure, so it was emotional. Thousands of people who are there to support you through the good times and the bad, so it was really nice. There was also fans from previous clubs and random people across the world, but the messages of support from Fulham fans was absolutely incredible.

“I was going to get surgery, so you’ve got the scary side of things and that fear factor due to the life threatening nature of it. It was scary. Up until the two weeks leading up to the transplant I didn’t think much of it, I didn’t allow it to affect me.

“Then I had to do two weeks of isolation before the transplant which is when it started to hit me, like ‘Sh*t, we’re going into this here.’ Obviously my brother was down here with us, and that’s when it started to kick in that it was happening. It was the longest two weeks in the world. Then the day before, it’s almost time to go and that’s when you put your faith in the best surgeons in the world and hope for the best. That was my only option unless I stayed on dialysis and live my life that way, so you make your choice, you stick with it. Ultimately things were successful, eventually, and here we are to tell the story.

“If you receive a kidney from your brother, it’s a touching thing. Nothing’s really changed in the sense of the way we are as people as such, but we’re more caring. He’s making sure I’m alright, wearing my guard when I’m playing football, that sort of thing. I’ll be thankful forever. His kidney’s part of my life now. He’s obviously always been a part of my life, but now his kidney’s inside me – it’s mad, it is a bit mental. I’m blessed to have someone like that, because I spoke to people in the hospital who couldn’t get a kidney from siblings or other family members. I’m massively blessed for sure.”

Having overcome some early complications from the transplant, Kev is now in a great place physically.

“It doesn’t give me any bother as a kidney. At the end of the day, it’s something deep inside you, and if you ask someone how their kidneys are, they probably don’t even know where they are. You get on with it, you have to have a mentality that there’s no other way for it. You have blood tests every six weeks and if there’s anything flagged at that then they’ll act upon things, adjust your medication. That’s just how it is, and ultimately that’s the way it’s going to be for the rest of my life. At some point along the way, I’m probably going to need another kidney transplant, that’s just the reality of it because kidneys aren’t going to last forever. But at this moment in time, things are going well, and long may it continue.”

Having started his career with Dundee, he signed a short-term deal with their local rivals United at the start of this year, going on to make 11 appearances for the Scottish Premiership side.

McDonald’s strength of character has always been one of his strongest attributes, so it would have come as no surprise to those who know him when he made his return to competitive football last season.

He did find, though, that many had written him off.

“First and foremost, it was good to be back amongst a group of guys,” the midfielder explains of his return to top-flight football. “I had a six-week pre-season on my own at a park in Cobham and with Fulham’s Under-23s, so it was good to get back to it. What’s amazing about football is, you’re a big person and a big player in the Championship, but when you take a bit of time out for this thing, you’re assumed to be done, as such. I’ve recognised that massively, to be completely honest with you. Clubs who, back in the day, I never would have attempted to go to, suddenly we’re picking up the phone and saying, ‘What you thinking?’

“‘Nah, nah, we’re not too sure.’

“Back in the day you would’ve turned your nose up if they came in for you, they’d have never had the chance to sign you.

“I was grateful to Dundee United, it was 20 minutes from my house as well, so it fitted the bill massively. Everyone at the club was brilliant with me, the manager for bringing me in, the chief exec, everyone was absolutely spot on. The players especially were brilliant, it was great to be back in and amongst football and be back out there playing football.

“I went there and did better at times than I thought I would. I was absolutely shambolic one game, but apart from that it was alright. It was a good achievement, because when I was doing 20x100m on the running track, you feel you’re a long, long way from playing a professional game of football. It was a proud moment to get back to playing football, and once I played that first game it was like, ‘Okay, it’s time for business, let’s get back to it.’”

McDonald is currently unattached but is keeping fit with Fulham’s Under-21 side. And having only turned 34 earlier this month, is hopeful of still having plenty to offer.

“If my body allows it. Not kidney-wise at all, if my body allows it then I’ve still got a good couple of years left in me, for sure. I felt absolutely great last season, probably the best I’d felt. It’s a time when it probably showed me that the previous couple of years, my kidney situation affected me more than I thought. I feel good, I’ll be good to go. Longer term, like I’ve said before, coaching’s probably a route I’m going to go down. I enjoy doing the coaching and that’s definitely something I’ll look into, but I don’t need to do that now. You can coach for as long as you want , but you can’t play forever unfortunately.”

Fulham fans will be eternally grateful that five years of McDonald’s playing career were spent at Craven Cottage.

He was one of the first names on the teamsheet in his first couple of seasons at the Club, which coincided with our famous 23-game unbeaten run – one that started following a Christmas team night out in Newcastle, having just lost to a Sunderland side who were on a horrific run of form.

“Fulhamish timing,” McDonald confesses of that 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light. “They hadn’t won at home for a year. At the end of the day, you get beat, you have a talk about it after the game, and that’s that.

“Maybe we should have done that a couple more times! It was a freak result but it ended up kickstarting the season. I’m sure Slav wasn’t happy but come 9 o’clock on that Saturday night there weren’t many thoughts about that Sunderland game, as we knew we’d be all good.

“I like the social side, I like to have banter and be lively in all walks of life, and I think you see characters like myself and Betts and TC like that on a daily basis. Then on a Christmas party you’ve got people like Lucas Piazon from Brazil, Denis Odoi from Belgium, and so on and so on. All different nationalities come together, and once you have a few drinks together it just goes off. I’ve always said, in my whole career, regardless of which team I’ve been at, the Christmas party and the end of season party just brings everyone together. It’s chaos from start to finish and are some of the best times, for sure.”

The players’ end of season party in 2018 will surely never be topped. Having finally secured our return to the Premier League, Tony Khan treated the squad to an all-expenses paid trip to the States.

“Brilliant. Nothing else to it, absolutely brilliant,” is Kev’s assessment of the vacation. “It was absolutely incredible. Tony sorted us out to a level you could never have imagined or dreamed of, so fair play to Tony and the Club for putting that on for us. It was just a surreal experience, the way Tony had set everything up for us. We got promoted on the Saturday, then three days later we flew to LA. He went above and beyond to just make it incredible for us. We didn’t put our hands in our pocket once. He took us to the best places, the best locations. It was just such an experience. Wembley was an experience, the afterparty was an experience, but when we’re sat out in Malibu having a nice meal and a drink, looking out over the water with these guys you’ve just been promoted with, and you see Tony rock up with a Fulham top on and his medal that he’s probably had on for three days straight, it was just amazing. You know what it’s like when you go on days out, nights out, and you’re just sitting back and enjoying your life, living in the moment. It was chaos, banter, whatever you want to call it, just all in one.”

Four defining matches led to that trip.

Defeat at Birmingham City on the final day meant the Play-Offs awaited. Another loss at Derby County in the first leg caused exterior voices to question Fulham. A raucous night in SW6 set up a first Wembley appearance since 1975. And finally, that sweltering afternoon against Aston Villa when Tom Cairney stepped up to the plate.

Everyone associated with the Club was gutted after the disappointing display at St Andrew’s. But would you actually rather we’d gone up automatically now you know what was to come?

“As you say, hindsight’s a beautiful thing,” Kev admits. “On that day we didn’t perform, but I stand by the thought that if we were winning, Cardiff ultimately would have won. They wouldn’t have allowed that.

“He’s been hammered about it for years. It was one of the best things, honestly. He was white as anything. We talked about it on the bus the whole way home, Mitro was cracking up. I just remember the ball coming in, and as he’s headed it, sick’s come out of his mouth. And then he crawled off the pitch and was sick there as well. It was banter it was.”

It was two defeats from two following the first leg of the Play-Offs. McDonald was never worried, though.

“Never, and I said that in numerous interviews. The way we played in that first leg, we were in control, no matter what anyone says. Yeah, they scored a goal and sat off, but I think if we’d scored first in that game, over the two legs it could have been 5-0. I strongly believe that. We went back to the changing room after and nobody was down or upset, and I said, ‘Listen lads, we should have won that game, simple as that. We dust ourselves down, we’ve got a few days, and we go again.’ Of course people started thinking, ‘Oh they got beat by Birmingham, they got beat by Derby, they’ve gone a bit here.’ But as a group of players, as a squad, as a coaching staff, there was never a doubt in our minds that we were going to go on and get through to Wembley.”

A mentality that was evident in spades at Craven Cottage three days later.

“It was unbelievable it was, it was electric. We could sense from the crowd that we were doing well. When the Cottage gets going, when they’re up and bouncing, you know you’re doing well. We got energy off that and it was just a great night. When everyone got on the pitch at full-time and you see Betts and Tigs [Matt Targett] and Denis on peoples’ shoulders, it’s good to look back on.”

Cairney was the captain and match-winner in the Final at Wembley, but he understood and appreciated the role McDonald played, sharing the trophy lift with his teammate, who famously addressed the group with a rousing speech following the celebrations.

“Whether or not I’ve got the armband on, it’s not going to change the way I am as a person or as a player. That’s the way I’ve always been. I’ve spoken in the changing rooms many times, through the good times and the bad. I did it when we beat Brentford as well. It’s a time to acknowledge staff – the media team, physios, people behind the scenes who aren’t going to get credit. From the bottom to the top, it’s time to give everyone a cheer, because these people deserve it just as much as we do.

“I’d say that game is the best moment I’ve had in my career. To be there as a main part of that team in front of 90,000, the best part of 45,000 of your own fans, on a roasting hot day, everything was set up brilliantly. It’s a memory that will live forever. Sometimes there’s no words for it. It was just amazing, from start to finish – except when Denis got sent off! It was just incredible, an unbelievable experience for everyone involved – players, coaches, fans – for the Club as a whole.”

Fulham secured another promotion two years later, but it had a very different feel to it. Beating your local rivals in the biggest game in their history – fantastic. Doing it without fans – less so.

Kev’s opinion is that, “As a season, it was great to get promoted, we thoroughly deserved to get promoted at times, and other times I thought we were just getting by. We didn’t really have the same momentum and confidence as a group of players as we did when we went up under Slav. I’m not saying that because I wasn’t playing every game, I think most fans would say the same thing. There were certain times where we scraped by and ultimately I think the best game we played was actually the Play-Off Final, to be completely honest with you. We got absolutely slapped by Brentford in the season and I feared the worst on that day, so fair play to Scotty [Parker] and [Matt] Wellsy who had clearly done a bit of research going into that Final, as I thought it was our best performance.

“It was tense. You could hear everything that was said. The longer it stays 0-0 I was thinking maybe it starts to suit them a bit more. It was different, I don’t even know how to explain it. It was one of those where it was hard to get up for it, especially on the bench, it’s like a pre-season game when you play with no fans. The motivation is still there because you want to play in the Premier League, but it doesn’t feel like you’re playing to get promoted. The boys did unbelievable that night, they were really, really good, but it was a strange atmosphere, even when you go and win it’s still a strange atmosphere. It was a good night in terms of getting a job done, but the celebrations aren’t the same when you’ve got Fulham fans who weren’t there to enjoy it.

“It didn’t feel the same, but the end goal was getting promotion, and that’s what we did.”

Despite not getting off the bench that night, McDonald still managed to entertain the fans. Such was his surprise at Joe Bryan’s wonder free-kick, the big man lost his footing as he attempted to navigate the steps to join in the celebrations.

“I was probably the same about 5 o’clock in the morning that night as well! To this day I think about how amazing Joe’s goal was. I can’t imagine what it was like for Fulham fans at home all over London or wherever you’re from. I didn’t know that was going to happen. Joe had spoken about it before but I had no clue that was about to happen. Joe hit it and I was just thinking, ‘What’s he done there?’ It was just amazing, and then he’s gone and got himself a second goal, which was a great moment for Joe. Obviously he’s been open about personal struggles in the past, and it was a fitting moment for someone like that.”

Still a regular face around Motspur Park, Kev now holds the role of fan – a fan who’s optimistic about the future under Marco Silva.

“I like the Manager, I think he’s good. I’ve spoken to a couple of players and they’ve said the same. When I’ve watched training when I was coming back after surgery, I thought he was really good. He’s detailed, he seems spot on. Now he’s got the players at his disposal that he’s got, I think the team are destined for success. Last season they showed it in the Championship, and this season they’ve kicked on again. The recruitment’s been good, you’re playing to Mitro’s strengths for the first time, and it shows.

“You do that and Mitro’s going to score goals. You continue to play the way we are, he’s going to score goals. There’s probably no person in the Club who’s surprised by him. He’s a great player, he’s always going to score goals. The players from last season have kicked on, you’ve got a really good manager in place, so everything is set up to be successful. You know what it’s like, it’s always tough going in the Premier League for a newly promoted team, but there’s no reason this team can’t be successful if they continue to do the same things. I’ll be looking out as always, and I’ve got no doubt about this team, I’ve got full confidence in them and the manager.”