Through his two-decade playing career, David McGoldrick has often joked that his best claim to fame is being able to look back on sharing a home — and a football pitch — with the likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Adam Lallana.
Having been sold by Notts County at the age of 16, the forward was pitched into a remarkable youth team at Southampton.
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McGoldrick is well-versed in facing questions over his days living in digs with future superstar Bale. But he talks with equal enthusiasm about his memories of sharing a dressing room with Notts players such as Nicky Fenton, Darren Caskey and David Joseph — the Frenchman best remembered for announcing to his new team-mates upon signing that he had managed to find himself a flat with a “big chicken” (rather than kitchen) — as he does about his former international team-mates.
These are names that, with respect, are not recognisable beyond the Nottinghamshire town of West Bridgford.
But it also explains why, despite having interest from Championship clubs and concrete offers from League One — including a deal to remain at Derby County, where he is their reigning player of the season — McGoldrick has instead opted to return to Meadow Lane for 2023-24.
He admits that his earnings are going to be “significantly” lower. He acknowledges he will be playing at an inferior level. But he also expects that he will be very happy.
McGoldrick’s smile widens even further as he talks about being at the National League play-off final at Wembley last month, watching Notts earn their return to League Two after four years in non-League.
When he says he will be proud to again pull on the black and white stripes that were the inspiration for Juventus’ famous colours, you sense he means it. The last time he did so was during a month-long loan from Southampton back to Meadow Lane as a 17-year-old in 2005.
McGoldrick was born in Nottingham and played within Notts’ youth set-up from the age of nine. Since leaving for Southampton, he has long had a hankering to come home. Money is not the primary motivation for finally returning at age 35 — he has unfinished business.
“I was a Notts fan,” McGoldrick says, speaking in the home dressing room at Meadow Lane. “I would get to come to games. I was involved in the proper youth team when I was still at under-14 level.
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“I did go to Forest games when I was younger as well; I remember being at the City Ground when (Ole Gunnar) Solskjaer came off the bench to score four goals for Manchester United (in an 8-1 win over Forest). But my connection was always with Notts. I made my debut for Notts when I was in my final year at Fernwood School… I was on the back of the (local newspaper Nottingham) Evening Post and I was quite happy as a teenager at the time, because the girls loved it!”
McGoldrick’s senior debut was as a substitute in January 2004. He made four appearances for Notts before Southampton paid a fee of less than £100,000 ($127,200) to take him to the St Mary’s Stadium.
“(Coming back to Notts) is purely my heart, rather than my head,” McGoldrick says. “I realise that 95 per cent of people might not have taken this decision; I realise that most people would have jumped at the offer of more money or the chance to play in a higher league. But I have played in the Premier League, I have played for many years in the Championship, I have played in League One… I get it. But I have done that.
“I want to show my kids that life is about more than just money; it is about enjoying yourself sometimes as well. Throughout my career, I did start to wish I had played more for Notts. I feel as though I can make up for lost time.
“You realise that, if you do not do it, you will look back on it with regret in future. The opportunity might not have come again.”
There was another motivation for McGoldrick wanting to come home. The past year or so has been a challenging one for him personally off the pitch, not least because he lost his brother, Simon.
“He was not a big football fan. I was always close to him and we always spoke about football and my career — I told him I would finish up at Notts County,” says McGoldrick. “That was a big thing in my decision as well.”
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News of McGoldrick’s return was greeted with less joy at the other end of Brian Clough Way. Derby manager Paul Warne joked with him that he would have to hide in a bunker when news emerged their 24-goal striker had turned down the chance to stay for a second season.
“It was a difficult conversation to have, but he did understand,” McGoldrick says. “I nearly retired a year ago — I had an injury and I was out for four months, my phone was not ringing after I left Sheffield United. Then Derby came in for me.
“With the (financial) problems they had, they needed some signings and it was just up the road… I went there and found my feet again. I hadn’t lost my love for the game; it was not that — but I did get into the swing of things there. I am grateful for that.”
As a 16-year-old, McGoldrick also attracted interest from Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. But it was Southampton, with their world-renowned youth set-up, who signed him.
“It was good for me to get out of my comfort zone, to adapt to living in a big lodge with 25 youth-team players,” says McGoldrick, who had to move almost 200 miles from Nottingham to England’s south coast. “Leaving home at 16 is not easy — but I did learn a lot.
“They had some great players. Lallana, Walcott, Bale, Leon (Best), Dexter (Blackstock), Martin Cranie, Matt Mills… we were all training together and living in the same house. We got to the final of the FA Youth Cup (in 2005), where we lost (1-0) to Ipswich Town. We should have won. Bale often could not get in the team, which probably tells you how good we were.
“People always ask me about Gareth and whether you could see what he was going to be… when he was a kid, he was really shy. He did not really excel and have confidence in himself. There was not much of a sign of what was to come. But then one pre-season he came back and you could see that he had put some work in in the gym — his physique was completely different.
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“We both made our (Southampton) debuts together against Millwall (in April 2006). He was playing left-back and got the full game — I got dragged (substituted) after 60 minutes. He did not come out of the team after that. He was phenomenal. I remember him being at Tottenham and there being this talk that they could not win with him in the team — but once they did win, the confidence he got helped him to blow up.”
While Bale was having that initially difficult time at Spurs between 2007 and 2009, McGoldrick made a £1million move to Forest. The duo were very nearly reunited, as then-Forest manager Billy Davies urged the club hierarchy to sign the Wales winger.
“Billy pulled me and asked me about him. I told him just to get him if he could,” says McGoldrick. “It was actually pretty close. There was a bit of a Welsh connection (at Forest) because we had Chris Gunter, who was close to Bale. There was a real chance of him coming.”
McGoldrick’s move to Nottingham’s other club did not quite pan out as anyone hoped. Davies would frequently talk of building a team around him. And, at his best, McGoldrick was a joy to watch. But amid some fierce competition and sporadic opportunities, he never quite produced his best consistently.
“I was only 21 when I went to Forest and the strikers we had were very good: Dexter, (Dele) Adebola, (Robert) Earnshaw, (Marcus) Tudgay, (Nathan) Tyson. We had some strong options,” McGoldrick says.
McGoldrick scored just eight goals over four seasons, in 63 league appearances. Davies did trust him enough to start him in the second leg of the play-off semi-final at Swansea City in 2011, but his chances were limited and a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday in the 2011-12 season was followed by temporary switches to Coventry City and Ipswich. He moved to the latter permanently in 2013.
“I did not play much at Forest — but I do take accountability myself for that,” McGoldrick says. “I was not looking after myself as well as I should have been. I lost my confidence. Forest was a learning curve for me when it came to how you need to look after yourself as a professional.
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“People talk about Billy being intense, but I learned a lot from him. When I was not playing and struggling, he would always put his arm around me and try to give me a bit of belief. When he walked into a room, he had an aura. He is a small man but he has a big character. It is a shame that he has not got back in the game since his second spell at Forest (which ended in 2014).
“It was tough coming back to my hometown to play for Forest. I think the pressure of that got to me a little bit. I started to go out a bit more than I should have done. I realised where I was at fault and I learned from it. It has made me the man I am today.”
McGoldrick’s career flourished after leaving Forest.
He spent five years at Ipswich in the Championship, before moving to Sheffield United, where he became something of a cult figure during their rise to the Premier League in 2019. He also scored eight goals for them in their second season in the top flight in 2020-21.
This summer, though, there was only one place McGoldrick wanted to go.
He is excited about working under Luke Williams at Notts and believes the manager’s attack-first, passing approach, which won them 107 points last season but remarkably wasn’t enough to beat Wrexham to the National League’s sole automatic promotion place, will suit him. He also views Williams, 42, as being the perfect mentor as he looks to complete his coaching badges. Coincidentally, Williams’ mentality was part of the training programme when McGoldrick was studying for his UEFA B Licence.
“My kids have grown up around here. I love the city and I want to be part of the future of football in Nottingham. We have two massive clubs here. It feels as though everything is on the up,” says McGoldrick.
“I was at Wembley (for that play-off final) to watch Notts as a fan. It was so, so nervy. Every time Chesterfield (who had finished third, but 23 points behind Notts) went through, I was on the edge of my seat. Notts played such a high line and it was a big pitch… With everything that had gone before (with Williams’ side having to settle for second after a season-long battle with Wrexham for the title), there was a sense that Notts should go up.
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“When the penalties were in front of our fans, I just got the sense it was going to happen — and it was great that Cedwyn Scott, who missed a penalty at Wrexham (late in a 3-2 defeat that what was pretty much a title decider in April), was the guy that got the vital goal at Wembley. There was some redemption in that.
“The celebrations afterwards, you could see how much it meant. In five or 10 years’ time, I think people will look back on that moment and the importance of it. I think we will be in a much higher league and we will remember what it meant — with the club having lost somebody very special to us as well (chief executive Jason Turner, who died in March).
“We will look back on that and realise what a big step that was. The rivalry with Wrexham will continue. We will look forward to that. We will both be fighting it out at the right end of the table.”
But mainly, having watched Notts’ promotion win as a supporter, McGoldrick is hungry for more. He has signed a two-year contract and says it is not set in stone he will retire at the end of it:
“I hope to enjoy a few more days like that one at Wembley. You can’t buy those moments with money, can you? That’s why I am here.”
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)