Football Echo: Non-League: McDonald: It's great to be back; RUNCORN.Byline: DAVID David, in the Bible David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. BASSETT ALVIN McDONALD has admitted that his 10-month spell out of football was one of the most frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: times in his 30-year associ- at ion with the game. McDonald came in from the cold last week to take over as the new Runcorn boss following the dismissal of Chris Lightfoot Chris Lightfoot (1978–2007) was a leading and prolific online civic campaigner, a polymath and a scientist, and the first developer with Tom Steinberg at e-democracy charity mySociety. . And the one-time Vauxhall Motors manager admitted: ``I didn't really think I would be out of football for so long. The 10 months has felt like double that. ``It didn't worry me at first as I didn't expect anything to happen until the summer because last season was such a one-off with clubs looking for that top-13 finish to qualify for Conference North. ``But then the summer came and went and there was no movement. ``Pre-season passed and that was when it really hit in, because I had never been out of it in pre-season. I began to wonder how long it would go on. ``It wasn't a case of going for jobs and not getting them, it's just that there were no jobs there. '' But McDonald added: ``Thankfully thank·ful adj. 1. Aware and appreciative of a benefit; grateful. 2. Expressive of gratitude: a thankful smile. , something has come along, I'm back in football with Runcorn and it was great last Saturday just to be back on the touch line again. '' McDonald, who is joined at Runcorn by his long-time assistant Peter Carroll, defended himself against criticism from some quarters over his regular appearances at local games while not in management. ``You can't win wherever you go when you are out of a job, '' he said. ``People accuse ac·cuse v. ac·cused, ac·cus·ing, ac·cus·es v.tr. 1. To charge with a shortcoming or error. 2. To charge formally with a wrongdoing. v.intr. you of being there for the wrong reasons. ``But all I wanted to do was keep watching games to stay involved and that is what I did so I wouldn't be too far adrift of what was going on. ``I have been at games for my own reasons and not for what people have mis-read into the situation. ``I have never denied I wanted to get back into football as soon as possible, but I certainly wasn't hanging around trying to put pressure on managers. They have a hard enough job as it is. ``I don't know what I was doing wrong, but some people made far more out of it than what it was. '' CAPTION(S): RETURN: Alvin McDonald |
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