It was always about goals for Ted MacDougall

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Ted MacDougall sits back on a seat at Dean Court and finds it easy to talk on the past with a great fondness for AFC Bournemouth. You can just let him talk and he'll recall individual games and some of the great names of the 1970s as if the games were as fresh as yesterday. There's nothing wrong with Ted's memory and he admits that his sole aim in those days didn't drift much further away than anything other than scoring goals and being hungry for more.

Scoring goals was just the best feeling for Ted.

"Freddie Cox signed me here (Bournemouth) in 1969 and they were just in the third division and I'd come from the forth division with York. Then we got relegated, he chuckles. "And sadly, Freddie got fired and then John came in and the rest was history.

"I'd always scored goals, but I didn't know why I scored goals. It was like he's lucky or just in the right spot, but there's was more to it than that. And then he (John Bond) showed me about runs and movement and how to create space in the box and around the box. Then I started getting from 15-20 goals a season to getting 40 goals a season. So it wasn't a coincidence."

It was the 1971-72 season when the famous FA Cup game against Margate saw Ted MacDougall heralded as SuperMac, scoring nine of the 11 goals. I asked him how many of the nine goals he remembers today. "I remember it was raining and I remember, I think it was four goals in the first half. And like today, It makes me laugh when a striker today gets two goals, or whatever and the manager takes him off. You know, you'd have had to drag me off. I'd be like, I'm not coming off!

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"The game was different. It wasn't about cultures. There was just one sub I think. But you couldn't change the game. You couldn't put like defenders on. So it became more of a coaches game when they could do something with the subs and change the systems. In our day there was really only one system 4-4-2 and everyone played the same way. And if John Bond would shout at me, I'd go on the other side of the pitch and say, I can't hear you!

"By the way, I remember the other two goals in the Margate game. I was upset about that! I remember it was down one end from a corner and Mel Machin scored from a header at the near post and he celebrated. I said, hey what are you doing? This is my space! What are you doing? And then Mickey Cave, bless him. He got one as well. I can't remember Mickey's, but I do remember Mel's. I remember saying, Jesus!

"And yet people come up to me today and say, oh you scored 11 goals and I say yeah that's right. Because the older you get, the better you were," laughs Ted. "And you never missed any chances? Oh, you scored every time? -  Yeah' that's right," Ted would say.

"I remember doing an interview in Norwich a couple of years ago, and I was asked what was your best goal and I said all of them!" Because it never bothered me if it was a good goal or a bad goal or a scruffy one. It didn't matter to me. A goal is a goal. You don't go down at the end of the season and say, oh he scored 20 goals or there were five good ones or six were great ones or seven were scruffy. No, a goal is a goal," added Ted.


If you would like to read more about Ted MacDougall's career and his amazing football tales make sure you pick up a copy of Ted MacDougoal with its new Reflections chapter.