NOTTS COUNTY POSITION FORWARD AGE 37

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Watching the ease with which David McGoldrick controls games, you might think he had always intended to play into his late thirties. Nope. “It was when I was released by Ipswich that I started to really look after my body – I would have been 30 then,” he recalls. “I’d been released, and no clubs wanted me. I had to take it seriously. The older you get, the more you do, because you don’t want to accept it!”

The hard work quickly paid off: McGoldrick joined Sheffield United that summer, won promotion and had two years playing in the Premier League. The former Republic of Ireland international is now in his second season back at Notts County, where his career began, but his 2023 return wasn’t a plan years in the making, either. “It was a difficult decision to leave Derby,” he tells FFT. “It’s a big club where the fans were great and I got on well with the manager. It wasn’t, ‘Everything’s been leading to Notts County’. But I’m really glad I came back.” So are the Magpies. Having dropped a division following 27 goal contributions in his only season at Derby, McGoldrick looked a level above League Two in 2023-24, and he still does. Averaging a goal or assist every 110 minutes this term, he has netted several absolute peaches from range, including one on his return from injury the day after our interview.