Mackay’s The Limit: Disgraced Boss Tries to Rebuild Career in His Native Scotland
The Full Scottish with Brian P. Dunleavy
Frankly, we thought there was no coming back for Malky Mackay.
And we would have been just fine with that.
It’s been eight years since Mackay was left on the outside looking in at Crystal Palace after his former employer, Cardiff City, forwarded a report to the English FA that included, among other sordid allegations, evidence of racist, sexist and homophobic text messages between the Scot and the Welsh club’s then-sporting director Iain Moody.
That Mackay left many at Cardiff City questioning his player signing decisions was almost lost in the firestorm that followed. He had a winning record while in Wales, but his career appeared to be on a downward trajectory.
A short stint at Wigan did not go well, to put it mildly.
And after that, the SFA’s decision to employ Mackay in a player development role did nothing to repair his image. It only seemed to generate more controversy, with some (rightfully) questioning why you’d want a man with (allegedly) bigoted views around younger players.
His appointment at Ross County at the end of last season was an opportunity for Mackay to redeem himself—and his reputation. But even among the relative few outside of Dingwall who can find the Highland town on a map, there was little belief that it would work.
Followers of the game in Scotland know County as one of the country’s “little clubs that can”—that is, one that can do wonders with a limited budget. However, most observers probably saw the appointment as the perfect purgatory for a man who had torpedoed his own chance at bigger things in football management.
Worse, the Staggies’ were themselves treading water following the failed Steven Ferguson/Stuart Kettlewell co-management experiment and the disastrous tenure of Scotland’s version of a poor man’s Harry Redknapp, John Hughes.
Well, lo and behold, Mackay—and, thus, County—may be on the upswing. The Scot’s 12-10-17 record, as of this writing, may seem pedestrian, but it was good enough for a place in the top six prior to the Prem’s schedule split, which meant a lucrative home fixture against Celtic last weekend (a 2-0 loss).
For a club such as Ross County, which plays in a 6,500-seat stadium and in a town with fewer than 5,500 inhabitants, that qualifies as a success.
Not surprisingly, pundits in Scotland have taken notice, including Mackay among the nominees for the country’s Manager of the Year Award, alongside Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou, Arbroath’s Dick Campbell and Cove Rangers’ Paul Hartley.
Could it be enough to make clubs south of the border reconsider the Scot? Time will tell.