Jun 5 2001
Evening Chronicle

Lovestruck soccer idol Supermac is to wed for the third time.

The former Newcastle United striker and sweetheart Carol Johnson will marry in a secret ceremony on Tyneside next week.

Former rock-star wife Carol, 49, who is divorced from Brian Johnson, the Geordie lead singer of rock band ACDC, moved in with Malcolm Macdonald to help him dry out after he admitted his battle with alcoholism four years ago.

Now they have decided the time is right to marry.

A delighted Supermac said: "We have been trying to keep the whole thing under wraps. We are getting married next week."

The pair have been together for more than four years after they both returned to Tyneside.

Carol used the experience from her battle with cocaine and whisky as a teenager on tour with ACDC to help Malcolm pull through a drying-out programme.

He admitted he was killing himself after a string of failed businesses and marriages as he turned to drink to ease the pain in his knees - a legacy of his day as one of the country's top footballers.

The final indignity came when he appeared before JPs in Newcastle on a drink driving charge in 1997.

Since then Carol has helped him rebuild his life and a career as a soccer pundit.

Now they are looking forward to a new life together.

He said: "Carol is the one who has given me a kick up the backside, and she has been there for me. I couldn't have done without her." Supermac scored 95 times in 187 league games and guided Newcastle United to the 1974 FA Cup Final against Liverpool. The England star was sold to Arsenal in 1976, where he was equally successful, scoring a goal every other game. After hanging up his boots, he became manager of Fulham and Huddersfield Town.

Twice-divorced Supermac has seven children and two former wives.

He married childhood sweetheart Julie in 1969 and the marriage lasted 17 years. They had five daughters before Malcolm left his wife for 25-year-old hotel manager Nicky Thompson in 1984, forcing him to leave the Fulham hotseat.

They married and had a son before the relationship ended.

The Fulham-born striker moved to Milan in the 1990s after meeting an Italian interpreter while working in Geneva. The couple had a daughter, Giorgia.

There has also been a series of business problems which involved Macdonald appearing at the High Court to recover money he was owed.

Supermac returned to Tyneside in 1996 after 20 years away to work as a radio pundit and met redhead Carol.

They moved in together in a flat in Jesmond, Newcastle, where she helped him cope with depression.

Carol had returned to her native North East after her split with star Brian.

But her £300,000 divorce settlement was soon gone after she ploughed the cash into a recording studio and Newcastle restaurant Red's Rock cafè which both failed.

She said: "Even during our darkest days, we could still make each other laugh. We're the perfect team."

Source : IC Newcastle