Malone reflects on cost of fame

IT HAS been said that the fame you earn has a different taste from the fame that is forced upon you.

Backpage headlines screamed of his footballing acumen the following day, but if there was any danger of him getting carried away on a wave of euphoria, he was brought back down to earth a week later when a tabloid newspaper got in touch. Apparently he had been caught on phone camera on the night of the game in the midst of a group singing racist songs about Celtic defender Bobo Balde. The next morning, the front page headline described it as his "racism shame".

"The racism tag did hurt me because I'm not a racist," he says, still stunned by the accusations. "We have big Romauld [Bouadji] in the team and I sit next to him in the dressing room so to call me a racist was just unbelievable. I'm also still in touch with a couple of mates from school, Calvin and Simba, who both played in the school team that we won the Scottish Cup with. To see those headlines and read those insinuations did hurt, to say the least. But the guys know I'm not a racist. I phoned them but they said they had read it and laughed. They know me and they know it's nonsense. But people who don't know me will have read that and might believe it and that hurts.

"I don't know who got in touch with the paper because the quotes are anonymous but they also say that I was with 40 people but we came out at 3am, as the nightclub was emptying, so there were at least 40 people in the street. I was actually only with a small group and although the photo they used makes it look like I'm singing, I could have been singing anything and it makes you wonder when they have obviously done something to the other photo of me on the page because my top has one short sleeve and one long sleeve! I honestly don't think I would sing that. Maybe, once I'd had a few drinks, someone asked me to join in, I honestly can't remember much about anything that happened that night, but the thing is, I've never heard that song and never knew it until I read it in the paper. It's not something I would start singing. I'd never heard of it, so it's surprising. I'm just wondering if someone was trying to stitch me up because they would have read quotes from me saying that I'd had quite a bit to drink that night.

"In the bar, we bumped into a Clyde fan and he was buying me Jack Daniels. I'm a lightweight so when we went into a nightclub and one of my mates gave me £40 to buy champagne, that was it... I can't remember much more."

The family say they called the paper asking to see or hear the footage but were told it had been misplaced. It has left a bitter taste in the mouth. It has also been an education.

"The gaffer has warned us all to be more careful. In the past we didn't have to worry because no-one recognised us but, obviously, after that game some people do, so we just need to watch ourselves. In the past no-one batted an eyelid but we've learned that some people go out of their way to try to stitch you up; some people are like that. People like to build you up so they can bring you back down again. We know that now."

But the experience hasn't forced the 20-year-old into his shell. He still wants to attract headlines but he wants them to focus on his exploits on the pitch rather than any alleged shenanigans at spilling out time in his hometown of Edinburgh.

A former Hibs season-ticket holder, he was a regular at games as Frank Sauzee and Russell Latapy helped his boyhood heroes to the 2001 Scottish Cup final and he would love to emulate that feat. This year, with top seeds dropping out in droves, round after round, he knows there is a very good chance. First Clyde have to defeat Gretna next Saturday and then negotiate the quarter-finals but he knows there is a route to Hampden opening up.

If they progress as far as the dream finale, sacrifices will have to be made. Malone is booked on a lads' holiday to Magaluf at the beginning of May to celebrate a mate's 21st birthday but knows that would go by the wayside if the Scottish Cup final was looming. It would be a price worth paying.

"I've played at Hampden twice before, in finals with the school. When I was in fourth year we went to the final and got beat 4-2 and then the year after we went back and won 2-0," says the former St Augustine's pupil. "I could tell you who we beat but I'm not sure about the other one, I'm trying to forget them because they beat us!

"Obviously, it would be completely different if I ever managed to get to Hampden again, it would be a bigger crowd for a start, but I've now played at Ibrox twice and we have played Celtic twice so you get a taste for it and you realise you can play against those kind of players. We've done all right."

It was this season's trip to Ibrox, on CIS Cup duty, which gave the Clyde players the self-belief to overcome Celtic, a club who gave them a 5-0 doing last season. Under Gordon Strachan it was a much different Celtic XI that started the game, while there were only three remnants of that game in the Clyde squad. New faces and a brand new attitude.

"What surprised me the most was when we went to Ibrox and drew then. We all remembered that and realised that we maybe did have a chance to beat Celtic as well. We did have that wee feeling and we knew how well we can play but it was obviously still a surprise. Getting that result at Ibrox had helped us, because you realise you can either freeze or you can try to see what you can do against these players, players like Roy Keane, and hopefully, as I said, the way we played them I think we did really well."

One of the higher-earners at Clyde as one of only three survivors of the previous regime, he knows that his contribution against Celtic was timely, if only to get the wisecrackers off his back. "They still give me a bit of stick, saying I'm bleeding the club dry and they all wind me up when my wage slip comes in but there are a few of them who now have new contracts so I think we are all evened up now.

"But that was my first goal in two and a half years! I was surprised it actually went in because usually I would hit the post or have it knocked off the line so to see it actually go in, in such a big game, the adrenaline rush it gave me was unbelievable, I just lost the plot."

In subsequent weeks he has also lost his boots, auctioned off at a club function for £375. "They only cost me £60," he smiles, before adding a dollop of self-deprecation. "They could have saved themselves some money by just buying the left one. The lads will tell you I never really used the right one!"

Right or left, he is intent on putting his best foot forward and leaving nightmare stories behind.