Angus MacDonald admitted he had to leave Aberdeen to get his career back on track.
The 32-year-old quit Pittodrie on deadline day to sign for Exeter City. The experienced defender had fallen down the Pittodrie pecking order and after the January arrivals of Krister Tobers, Mats Knoester and Alfie Dorrington he knew his time under Jimmy Thelin was up. But after bravely battling back from cancer, MacDonald said he’d lost some ‘time’ in his career, and wants to get back playing regularly again.
He told Record Sport: “Aberdeen was a place where I felt really at home. I really enjoyed my football and my two years in the city, but I just wanted to play football. If I’m not playing then it becomes frustrating and that was the case latterly at Aberdeen. I have missed a bit of time in my career, through no fault of my own and had setbacks and those things have kept me hungry. When the opportunity came to go and get some minutes at Exeter, it was a hard decision to leave Aberdeen, but when you think about your career the decision was made a lot easier.
“Exeter are a really ambitious club with a good manager in Gary Caldwell and I think we showed that potential on Monday night when we took Nottingham Forest all the way to penalties in the FA Cup,”
The 32-year-old leaves Pittodrie with a bucketload of memories and friends for life. MacDonald knows his two year spell in the Granite City will live with him forever. It was only meant to be a short-term arrangement when he moved north after Jim Goodwin had departed. It turned into a full bloomed love affair, as he helped Barry Robson’s side to finish third in the Premiership and guaranteed the group stages of the Europa Conference League. The former Hull City star not surprisingly extended his stay.
MacDonald proudly said: “We had some really special moments, finishing in the top three and guaranteeing the group stages of European football was amazing. I don’t think I have ever had a feeling like that when we finished third.
“We always had a special dressing room at Aberdeen but that group was amazing with the likes of Graeme Shinnie, Jonny Hayes, Liam Scales, Mattie Pollock and so many others. Then it was great travelling across Europe and going toe-to-toe with some top teams, captaining the team against Eintracht Frankfurt and my goal against HJK in Helsinki, were both personal highlights. “Moments I can look back on with great pride.”
The popular centre half admitted last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final with Celtic was another roller-coaster. He made a mistake for the opener but then redeemed himself with a goal in the last minute of extra time to force penalties. Peter Leven’s Dons eventually lost 6-5 in the shootout.
MacDonald recalled: “The semi-final against Celtic. I gifted Celtic an early goal. We gave it a right good go and to equalise in the last-minute after the mistake I made, it is something I can’t really put into words. It was also good that my dad was up for the game and saw me play as well, which made it even more special, even though we ended up losing the game we pushed Celtic all the way.
The defender admitted that he might have left Aberdeen but he will always remain a fan and will continue to look out for their results. He admitted: “If I look back at the whole picture. My little one was born in Aberdeen. To say I played 50 times for the club is a real achievement.
“I loved the Aberdeen fans and they were great to me, as were all my teammates, the managers and all the staff behind the scenes. I think the majority of them quite liked me and those big moments were for them and the support they gave me.
“It has been a massive highlight of my career and I have met people who will remain friends. Aberdeen FC will always hold a special place in my heart.”