EXCLUSIVE: David McGoldrick is the teenage prodigy now blossoming in his thirties… after being sold by Notts County aged 16 due to their financial troubles, the veteran striker is back and scoring goals where it all began

David McGoldrick always promised himself he would one day return to Notts County. Back where he began as a ball-boy, making his first-team debut while still at school then sold at 16 to help keep the club alive.

‘I know it’s a sentimental story,’ says the 35-year-old. ‘I always said I wanted to come back and there aren’t many times in football when you say something like that and find it actually happens, but it’s not just sentiment. It’s about my career and I genuinely thought coming home, back to Notts County was the best thing for me at this stage.

‘They were back up in the EFL and I wanted to be part of the journey. A two-year deal gave me a bit of security and it’s going so well. I’m learning from a fantastic manager. There’s a great set of players. No egos. I’m enjoying every minute.’

For a time in May 2022, McGoldrick thought his playing career had reached its natural end. He had been three months out with injury, his Sheffield United contract was expiring and his phone was cold.

Having made a Premier League debut at 31, scored goals in the top flight and won 14 Republic of Ireland caps, he was ready to accept his time might be up.

The veteran striker is enjoying his return to the club where he grew up as a ball boy before being sold as a 16-year-old

‘I didn’t know if I wanted to carry on,’ he says. ‘My phone wasn’t ringing for three weeks. I thought that was me. Then I started seeing people I knew go back for pre-season and thought, “No, I’m not done yet”. I got up and got myself going again.’

McGoldrick joined Derby County and fired in 25 goals in 45 appearances. Didzy, as he has been nicknamed since school, is the teenage prodigy blossoming in his 30s.

‘I got into the Premier League at an age when people are normally coming out,’ he smiles. ‘I started to play well then. I can’t put it down to anything other than hard work, the way I live my life and maturing as a person.

‘I’ve learned to let go of always trying to be a footballer, accepting you can’t change results afterwards, finding other things to make you happy. I enjoyed being a parent.

‘I used to take the lows badly when I was younger. Not playing. I see young players on social media straight after the game. I don’t know why you would do that. Negative comments are going to happen. If Messi and Ronaldo get negative comments, why would it be different for any other footballer?

The 35-year-old has had a good start to the season with six goals from his first 13 games

‘Work hard, be true to yourself and the good stuff will come to you. That’s what I’ve learned later in my career.’

With wisdom like that to dispense, there’s no wonder Derby boss Paul Warne wanted to keep McGoldrick in the dressing room at Pride Park, but the lure of Meadow Lane was already working its magic.

‘I’d watched Notts County from afar, been to a few games,’ he says. ‘I was at Wembley with my mates for the play-off final. My heart properly in my mouth with the penalties. We celebrated with a Burger King at the M1 services.’

Then came the call from manager Luke Williams. ‘He made it clear he wanted me. I made it clear to him I wanted to come back and we found a way to make it work.’ McGoldrick signed in June. In some ways, but not all, it was like turning the clock back 20 years.

‘Same place, same smell, same everything,’ he says. ‘Familiar faces on the main gate and the ground staff but a totally different atmosphere. They were all buzzing from promotion.

He scored 22 times for Derby in League One last year but was delighted to joins Notts County as he helps them fight for promotion

‘There was a bit of carnage when I was there before. Financially, it was a tough time for the club. I was still in Year 11 at school when I made my debut. Had to get Friday off to train with the team and travel to Bournemouth, then I started on Saturday.

‘It was a crazy time but I was only a kid so wasn’t really worrying until near the end of the season when they told me they were selling me because they needed the money.

‘I was an asset. I was told they’d agreed a deal with Tottenham. Then it was Southampton and Everton. I decided to go to Southampton but it was all down to the money. They got half a million, up front I think, which helped the club.’

McGoldrick joined Southampton’s youth ranks and reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2005, part of a side featuring Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Adam Lallana.

McGoldrick – who was a Premier League striker with Sheffield United as recently as 2021 – insists there is ‘no limit’ to where County can go

But it was also the start of a restless decade. There were three loan moves, including six games back at Notts County, and a £1million move to Nottingham Forest followed by three more loans, including 16 goals in 22 games for Coventry.

Then came five-and-a-half years at Ipswich before that late flourish at Sheffield United. To be back home at Notts County, fighting for promotion from League Two and trying restore the league’s oldest club to former glories seems like a perfect way to close a circle.

‘There’s no limit to where the club can go,’ said McGoldrick, speaking at an after-school Kicks session at Southglade leisure centre in the north of the city, as part of the EFL’s community week of action.

‘It’s a club on the up and, yes, with the status of the club, and gates of 15,000 we should be higher. It won’t happen overnight.

‘I hope people don’t think we can just keep climbing and without hard work but hopefully good times will come.’