SuperMac reveals how his final Luton hat-trick against Cardiff ending up costing Newcastle United an extra £30,000

Former Luton striker Malcolm Macdonald has revealed how he earned the Hatters an extra £30,000 after scoring a hat-trick in his final game for the club against Cardiff back in May 1971.

With Town a Division Two side in those days, finishing sixth in the table and unable to win promotion, Macdonald brought the curtain down on his second successive prolific season at Kenilworth Road as top scorer for the club yet again.

His form over the course of campaign had alerted the Magpies, who were in Division One at the time, but with the deal agreed, he then ended a six-game drought in style, by bagging all three in a 3-0 win over the Welsh side to further boost the Town coffers, while also finally reaching the 30-goal target he had been set by manager Alec Stockat the start of the season.

Speaking exclusively to the Luton News about how the deal came about, Macdonald, who went on to finish as the top scorer for Newcastle in five successive years from 1972-1976, winning the First Division's golden boot for that 1975-76 campaign, said: "We got to Easter and we had a nightmare on the Friday and Saturday as we played three games in four days then, Friday, Saturday and Monday.

“We lost away on the Friday to Bristol City, who scored a really silly toepoke in added time, and then we lost to Leicester City at home.

“We were in on the Sunday, we did some light training and then were going to have some hot baths afterwards.

"As the players were disappearing up the tunnel, Alex Stock (manager) came down and he signalled for me to go and join him.

"He walked out to the centre circle and looked over his shoulder at the empty stadium to make sure that he wasn’t being overheard, and said, 'well old son, promotion’s out the window, and a club like Luton Town, if we’re not going to get promoted then we have to get a few quid in, we have to sell our best player and that’s you at the moment, so you’ll be on your bike at the end of the season.'

"He said 'I can tell you now there are three clubs interested in you, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle United, all you’ve got to do is to keep sticking the ball in the old onion bag, between now and then and you’ll be on your way.'

"And that’s what I did, I kept sticking it in the old onion bag, and we got to the last game of the season which was against Cardiff.

"We needed to beat them by two clear goals at least to go into the Watney Cup instead of them, and beat them 3-0 and I scored a hat-trick.

"So I’ve gone into the dressing room and this time there was no champagne, it was just cups of tea, I got two and gave one to Alec Stock and I said, 'well, there we are boss, no promotion this time, but what’s happened tonight is my first goal, that got me the 30 for the season, my second goal was the one that I owed you from last season and my third goal, you can have that for luck.

"He said 'you’ll need some luck where you're going old son, come and see me Friday, I've got some news for you.'

"So I went into his office and he sent me down to the Great Northern hotel where he had just returned from, having just done the deal with Newcastle, so I signed for Newcastle, and was no longer a Luton Town player.

“The fee was 185,000, but when I arrived at the Great Northern hotel as all the Newcastle board and manager were down for the FA Cup final the following day, I asked the reception where I might find Joe Harvey (manager) and they said 'he’s in the lounge at the end of that corridor.'

"As I was walking down the corridor, a big pair of shoulders filled up the doorframe and out came Joe Harvey from the lounge.

"I held my hand out and, 'Mr Harvey, I’m Malcolm Macdonald, Alec Stock has asked me to come and see you.

"And he said, 'so you’re the little one who’s just cost Newcastle United thirty thousand pounds more than they were prepared to pay, as back in Easter, we had the fee agreed at 155,000.

"'You scored a hat-trick in your last game, your manager comes in early this morning and puts the fee up ten grand a goal!'

"So I looked at him and then he smiled and I realised that he was just winding me up, but he didn't complain about my next hat-trick which was my home debut against Liverpool!”