Keeper's newborn daughter saved his MK Dons career
MK Dons’ first-choice feels he has lost two years of his career at the club
Family responsibility and keeping a settled home played a huge part in keeping Craig MacGillivray at MK Dons, even during his most difficult times at Stadium MK.
It has not been plain sailing for the keeper over the last two years. Starting life as the club’s first-choice, he was swiftly knocked down the order after Mike Williamson took over before being shipped out on loan to Stevenage. He became something of a forgotten man over the next year, with barely a handful of appearances coming under Scott Lindsey as he played second fiddle to Tom McGill.
But as McGill fell out of favour, MacGillivray’s opportunities at MK1 appeared to be even more remote with the signing of Connal Trueman, who took over between the sticks. And it could have been enough of a signal for the shot-stopper to jump ship with his contract nearly up.
However, with a new baby on the way and a settled family home, staying put and desperately trying to fight for his place was the most logical thing for MacGillivray to do, even though he had opportunities to leave.
“If I'm honest it was lucky that we had just had our second daughter and we were settled here in the area,” the keeper told Red Dot, Dons’ matchday programme. “That helped massively because the situation a year before, when you don't know what more you can do, and you have the opportunity to leave, it's on your mind.
“I've got my new baby and that was a big thing. I didn't want to up sticks and move away. And that was one of the reason why I ended up staying put.
“Everyone has hard times in their career, but you only get one career, and you only get one life and there's a lot worse things to be doing in life than kicking a ball around for a living.”
Given a shot at the end of last season by Ben Gladwin though, MacGillivray took the opportunity with both hands when Paul Warne took over, establishing himself with four clean sheets in a row and wowing the new boss.
A firm fixture in the side this season, MacGillivray admitted the last two years though have been a ‘what if’ for him, saying: “I came here two summers ago but because of what happened I feel like I've lost two years of my career.
“I could talk for hours about what I was thinking at that time. But ultimately that's gone now and it's not worth even thinking about it. Things have changed now and I'm obviously playing and enjoying it.
“I feel like I know what's asked of me and what's expected of me and that's all you can ask as a player. Nothing difficult, there's no grey area. A lot of what happened before, I wouldn't say was even self-inflicted.
“The stuff that happened before, it is what it is.”