From the athletic
The non-League Haaland: Macauley Langstaff’s bid to be the country’s top goalscorer
By
Paul Taylor
Oct 19, 2022
One has 3,850 followers on Twitter, the other has three million.
One is paid £375,000 a week, the other used to get £50 a week playing for Billingham Synthonia.
Erling Haaland is one of the best-known footballers on the planet, following his £51million ($57.7m) move to
Manchester City this summer. In contrast, Macaulay Langstaff does not even have a Wikipedia page.
But that is unlikely to be the case for much longer.
While Haaland has been making headlines with his scoring exploits in the
Premier League, Langstaff has been in explosive form in the historic surroundings of Notts Country, following a £50,000 move from Gateshead in the same window.
A flurry of 15 goals in 13 games in the fifth-tier National League have earned him the nickname of the ‘Non-League Haaland’ — although he hopes to change the first part of that by the end of the season.
The friendly Teessider grew up idolising the likes of Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Yakubu in their days at Middlesbrough — and was heartbroken when he was himself released from their academy as a 13-year-old.
But just over a decade later, following a journey that has taken him to Billingham Synthonia, Blyth Spartans, York City and Gateshead, the 25-year-old has not only already earned hero status at Meadow Lane — he finds himself in an unlikely competition with Haaland to see who can finish the season as the top goalscorer in the country.
Every time the Norway international adds another to his City tally, Langstaff’s phone lights up with messages.
“It is a bit of fun, isn’t it? It is mad to see your name mentioned in the same breath as Haaland — he is the best striker in the world at the moment,” Langstaff tells
The Athletic. “So to be mentioned in the same sentence as him, is a massive, massive privilege.
“I have texts coming through every single week, with people teasing me, telling me, ‘Haaland is catching you’, or, ‘You have to score today to get ahead of him’. He is doing it at the very top level. But I have aspirations to get to that level and score goals there myself.
“I love watching him. Although I am getting to the point where I do not want to see him get any more, because I want to stay ahead of him.”
Langstaff is talking from the boardroom balcony at a ground that last hosted top-flight football in 1992, with Notts relegated in the weeks before the Premier League arrived, along with all its riches. A 20,000-capacity stadium feels incongruous in the surroundings of non-League football, where Notts are now into a fourth successive season, following three years of frustration in the promotion play-offs.
But if Langstaff can continue his scoring exploits, it will not do Notts any harm, as they look to finish ahead of Wrexham and their Hollywood connections and local rivals Chesterfield, in the race to secure the one automatic promotion spot — and to restore their status as the oldest Football League club in the world.
“I watch Haaland. I like to see his movement and the things he does. He is such a talent and he has incredible physical stature. Physically, in terms of that stature, and in the way we play, there are not many comparisons to be made, really,” says Langstaff, who at 5ft 8in (172cm) is nine inches shorter than his Etihad Stadium counterpart. “He is so tall and powerful. He does things I would not be able to do. The goals he scored against United (in City’s 6-3 Manchester derby win two weeks ago) — the jump from the corner, when he rose to attack that header… then the height and reach he had when he stretched to get the other one.
“I have to be clever around the box to create my own space and to create my own chances sometimes. But you do look at him and pick out things that I can take into my game. I want to try to get to see him in person. I think you would see how good he is then. If you get close to him (as a defender), he is so powerful and so quick, he will leave you on the floor. If you try to give him a yard and stand off him, he will turn and run in behind you. I don’t know how you defend against that.
“The amount of goals he has scored in the number of games… you wonder if he can keep it up. But then you think that there is no reason why he can’t… Premier League defenders are going to be sick of him.”
Notts appointed Luke Williams, the former Swindon Town manager who was also an assistant at MK Dons and
Swansea City as their latest head coach in the summer and he has made an instant impact of his own, leading them to the top of the table with 30 points from 13 games.
He has also played a key role in Langstaff’s development.
“I was more of a wide No 10 with Gateshead — more of a winger. Here, I am a fox in the box. I do not get involved in the build-up. I just try to get myself into positions where I can get on the end of chances,” Langstaff says. “And we are a side that create a lot of chances. It has been a complete change. The gaffer is unbelievable with his ideas and with his tactics. I learned quite quickly how to play the role; how he wanted me to do things. I guess that shows.”
So what does Williams believe makes Langstaff such a threat?
“For me, it is instinct. It is selecting the right finish. He knows the right speed to hit the ball and at what angle. All these tiny differences can be the key,” Williams tells
The Athletic. “Macca has the real calmness you need. He can analyse things and hit the ball with his left or right, he can head it.
“I am very lucky, because I played as a young man with Bobby Zamora and we are best friends to this day. I got to as many games as I can to watch him. I worked at
West Ham on the community side of things. When he signed for West Ham, it was great to have my mate playing for the team.
“I have learned a lot about what good strikers prefer from him. If you provide good strikers with certain things, they will produce. Lots of the things I have seen in Bobby, I have tried to build in my teams — and Macca is the type of player who will take full advantage of the way we like to play. Good strikers keep calm in the big moments. I see those traits in Macca.”
And what about those comparisons with Haaland?
“There is something very innocent about it,” Williams says. “Haaland is the best No 9 on the planet. To be the other guy with the highest goal tally is a beautiful thing for Macca; to be even mentioned in the same sentence as that guy, is amazing.
“Macca is on the pitch doing his thing at the level he is at — and doing it brilliantly well. I think it is a lovely thing and I hope it continues. He will get more attention now, and that will come with frustrations. The first time in a player’s career when he starts to get special treatment from the opposition can be very difficult. But however much attention there is on Macca, there will always be a moment for him to hurt people.”
There is a refreshing down-to-earth attitude about Langstaff, who scored 28 goals in 39 appearances to help Gateshead to promotion from the sixth-tier National League North last season. He has quickly made himself at home on the banks of the River Trent. He is already being linked with clubs such as Peterborough United and
Barnsley, who are both firmly in the League One promotion race, following his remarkable form.
“I knew I was coming somewhere that was good; where I would be able to thrive,” Langstaff says. “It is only one step up but, in terms of the size of the club, it should not be down here. It should be in the Football League.
“It is so tough to get out of this division, with only one automatic promotion place. But if we can get out, I think we would quickly kick on again. If we finish above Wrexham, we will probably be there or thereabouts.
“As for speculation… I am 13 games into a three-year contract. I was in a similar position last summer, when a lot of clubs were being linked with me. Notts were the ones who put their faith in me; who gave me the chance.
“It is about Notts; about winning promotion and nothing else. If you asked me whether I would rather get more goals than Haaland this season or, alternatively, win promotion — I would pick promotion without hesitation.
“I won promotion with Gateshead and the feeling of achievement you get from doing that for the fans outweighs any individual accolade you could ever get.
“If I can be top scorer
and win the league, that would be unbelievable. If I can keep pace with Haaland in the meantime, great, because it means we are doing well as a team. I’ll give it my best shot.”