 Mackay as manager ofCardiff City in 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Malcolm George Mackay[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1972-02-19)19 February 1972 (age 53)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Bellshill, Scotland | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Hibernian (sporting director) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Queen's Park | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1993 | Queen's Park | 70 | (6) |
| 1993–1998 | Celtic | 34 | (4) |
| 1998 | →Norwich City (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 1998–2004 | Norwich City | 212 | (15) |
| 2004–2005 | West Ham United | 18 | (2) |
| 2005–2008 | Watford | 52 | (3) |
| Total | 387 | (30) | |
| International career | |||
| 2004 | Scotland | 5 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2008 | Watford (caretaker) | ||
| 2009–2011 | Watford | ||
| 2011–2013 | Cardiff City | ||
| 2014–2015 | Wigan Athletic | ||
| 2017–2018 | Scotland (caretaker) | ||
| 2021–2023 | Ross County | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Malcolm George Mackay (born 19 February 1972) is a Scottish professionalfootball coach and former player, who is the sporting director atScottish Premiership clubHibernian.
Mackay, who played as adefender, began his playing career in Scottish football withQueen's Park andCeltic. He joined English sideNorwich City in 1998, remaining there for six years. Between 2004 and 2006, he achieved consecutive promotions to thePremier League with Norwich,West Ham United and finallyWatford. Mackay won fivecaps forScotland towards the end of his playing career.
After retiring as a player in 2008, he became manager of Watford in June 2009. He was manager ofCardiff City between June 2011 and December 2013, achieving promotion to the Premier League in 2013 but was dismissed after a dispute with club ownerVincent Tan. Mackay was appointed manager ofWigan Athletic in November 2014, and was dismissed the following April. After a spell working for theScottish Football Association, he was appointed Ross County manager in May 2021.
Born inBellshill,[1] Mackay began his career in his native Scotland, coming through the youth ranks ofQueen's Park,[2][3] before joiningCeltic in the summer of 1993. He made his Celtic debut on 13 May 1995 in a 1–0 away win againstDundee United.
His first Celtic goal was scored on 27 April 1996 in a 4–2 away win againstPartick Thistle.[4] He made 46 appearances in five years with theGlasgow club, and in September 1998 moved to England, joiningNorwich City for a fee of £350,000 after a one-game loan spell.[5]
At the end of the2001–02 season Norwich fans voted Mackay in second place behindGary Holt in the voting forNorwich City player of the year. In the2003–04 season, his sixth at Norwich, the club was promoted to thePremier League after winning the thenDivision One, however he was released by Norwich at the end of the season. He was named in theFootball League First Division Team of the Year in the 2003–04 in which they got promoted. Mackay scoreda brace for Norwich in anEast Anglian derby against Ipswich Town.[6]
Mackay was signed forWest Ham United by managerAlan Pardew, for £300,000, on 10 September 2004.[7] He played 18 league games for the Hammers, although none after March, as West Ham reached the play-offs, beatingPreston North End in the final to reach the Premier League. Mackay was released before playing a top flight game.[5]
Mackay was picked up on a free transfer byAidy Boothroyd as part of his rebuilding ofWatford and soon become one of the key figures in Boothroyd's side. Mackay was involved in some excellent defensive displays as well as scoring some vital goals, including one againstfierce rivalsLuton Town atKenilworth Road in a 2–1 victory.[8] At the end of the2005–06 season Mackay achieved the feat of being promoted to thePremier League for the third successive season, asWatford defeatedLeeds United 3–0 in theplay-off final.[9]
After having been released following his two previous promotion campaigns, Mackay was assured by Boothroyd that he would play a part in Watford's Premier League campaign, citing his experience as an important asset to the team. Although he was not a first-team regular, Mackay made 14 Premier League appearances in2006–07. In January 2007, Mackay took his first step into coaching by being promoted to first team coach, following the departure ofDave Hockaday.[citation needed]
In the2007–08 season Mackay's only first team appearance came during anFA Cup match againstWolves in January 2008. He took over ascaretaker manager at Watford on 4 November 2008 following the departure ofAidy Boothroyd.[10]
During his sixth and final season at Norwich, at the age of 32, Mackay became the oldest man to make his debut forScotland in 37 years.[11]
It came in a 1–0 defeat toDenmark; Mackay later played in a 1–0 victory overEstonia and a 4–1 win againstTrinidad & Tobago. In total, Mackay won five caps for Scotland.[12]
AfterBrendan Rodgers resigned in June 2009, Mackay took over as themanager of Watford. Watford drew 1–1 on their league visit to Reading on 26 September 2009, and by their second meeting late in the season Rodgers had been dismissed by Reading after only a few months in charge.[13][14] As for Mackay and Watford,2009–10 was a difficult season where their Championship status was under threat for a long time, but by the end of April survival had been achieved against Reading, ending the season 14th place in the league.[15]
Mackay signed a three-year contract asCardiff City manager on 17 June 2011, with Watford receiving an undisclosed fee in compensation.[16] His reign began with a 1–0 away win overWest Ham United. The side were undefeated in September, resulting in Mackay being nominated for the SeptemberChampionship Manager of the Month in his first month managing the Welsh club.[17] Another unbeaten month for Cardiff resulted in Mackay winning the award in November.[18]
He guided Cardiff to their first everLeague Cup final, following wins overOxford United,Huddersfield Town,Leicester City,Burnley,Blackburn Rovers andCrystal Palace in earlier rounds.[19][20]
The week before the League Cup final, Mackay signed a three-and-a-half-year contract extension, tying him to the club until June 2016.[21] Mackay's side were beaten byLiverpool in the Wembley final, losing 3–2 on penalties, with a 2–2 scoreline after extra time.[22] Cardiff's season ended where it began, as they were beaten 5–0 on aggregate byWest Ham United in the promotion playoffs.[23]
Following the success of his first season in Wales, Mackay was reportedly one of the candidates to replacePaul Lambert atPremier League sideNorwich City. He turned down the offer and said he was fully committed to Cardiff City.[24] He oversaw Cardiff's strongest ever home start to a league season, as they won each of their first ten fixtures atCardiff City Stadium, the previous club record being nine consecutive home wins. Mackay went on to lead Cardiff to promotion to the Premier League, and sealed theChampionship title after a 1–1 draw away atBurnley.[25] Mackay was voted theLeague Managers Association (LMA) Championship Manager of the Year on 21 May 2013.[26]
During the2013–14 season, Mackay came under criticism from club ownerVincent Tan concerning his signings, transfer budgets, results and style of play.[27] In December 2013, Tan told Mackay to resign from the club or be dismissed.[28] After a 3–0 home defeat toSouthampton, Mackay was sacked by Cardiff on 27 December 2013 after a meeting with the club's directors.[29]
Mackay was appointed manager ofWigan Athletic on 19 November 2014, despite fan opposition,[30] after the Championship side had dismissedUwe Rösler.[31] The appointment was criticised by theKick It Out campaign, who said that the club had disregarded the ongoing FA investigation into text messages sent by Mackay.[32] Wigan chairmanDave Whelan said that the club had inserted a clause in its contract with Mackay stating that they could terminate the contract if he was found guilty by the FA.[32] A shirt sponsor of the club, Premier Range, withdrew their backing after Mackay was appointed.[33]
On 22 November, in his first game as manager, Wigan drew 1–1 againstMiddlesbrough at theDW Stadium.[34] He was dismissed on 6 April 2015,[35] after a 0–2 defeat toDerby County left the club eight points from safety of relegation in the division.[36] During his 138-day tenure, Wigan achieved 19 points from a possible 72, winning 5 games of 24 played in theChampionship.[37] The move was welcomed by fans with Wigan Athletic Supporters Club spokesperson Caroline Molyneux telling BBC Sport: "I think [Mackay's sacking] is a popular decision among the fans."[38][39] Mackay had received public backing by newly appointed club chairmanDavid Sharpe as recently as March 2015 when he described Mackay as "a big part of what we are doing here".[40]
In December 2016, theScottish Football Association (Scottish FA) appointed Mackay as its performance director, responsible for overseeing the development of young players.[41] The appointment was criticised by some people, including politicianClare Haughey, due to Mackay's previous behaviour.[42] The anti-racism campaign groupKick It Out made comments that were supportive of Mackay, pointing out that he had since received equality and diversity training from the (English) FA.[42]
During his tenure with the SFA, Mackay was appointed caretaker manager of theScotland national team.[43] He gave four players debuts in his only match, which the team lost 1–0 to theNetherlands in a friendly atPittodrie on 9 November 2017.[44] Mackay resigned from his position as performance director in November 2020.[45]
Mackay was appointed manager ofRoss County in May 2021.[46] The move was once again met with fan backlash as a section of Ross County fans criticised the club's decision to appoint Mackay as manager.[47] In his first season as manager, County finished in sixth position in theScottish Premiership despite being favourites for relegation. They fell to an 11th-place finish in2022–23, and avoided relegation by winning a play-off againstPartick Thistle onpenalties.[48] Mackay was sacked by County on 15 November 2023, with the team on a nine-game winless run and sitting in 11th place in thePremiership table.[48]
On 14 May 2024,Hibernian announced that they had appointed Mackay to a sporting director role.[49] The news came on the same day as the sacking of head coachNick Montgomery, with the club saying that Mackay would lead the process for appointing his replacement.[49]
Mackay was expected to become manager of Premier League clubCrystal Palace in August 2014, but dropped out of contention after Cardiff City sent a dossier tothe Football Association alleging misconduct by Mackay and sporting director Iain Moody.[50] It subsequently emerged that some of the allegations related to text messages considered to be racist, sexist and homophobic in nature.[50][51] Cardiff questioned the fees paid to agents and lawyers relating to transfer deals made while Mackay and Moody worked for the club.[52] A source of tension between the two clubs was the alleged leaking in April 2014 of a Cardiff starting line-up to Crystal Palace, where Moody had become sporting director after leaving Cardiff.[51][52] Moody resigned from his position at Palace after the allegations were publicised.[51]
Via a statement published by the LMA, Mackay apologised for writing two messages that he admitted were disrespectful of other cultures, but denied stating anything of a homophobic or sexist nature.[53] The LMA itself apologised for characterising the messages as "friendly banter" in the statement.[54][55] After conducting an investigation, the Football Association announced in July 2015 that it would not charge Mackay or Moody with any offences.[56]
Mackay's father (also namedMalky Mackay) is a former footballer who played as a striker. The Mackay family are all supporters of Glasgow-based clubQueen's Park. Mackay Sr. is a member of the board at the club.[57] Mackay Jr. played for amateur side Queen's Park as a teenager, whilst working in a branch of theBank of Scotland.[58]
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Watford (caretaker) | 4 November 2008 | 26 November 2008 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 040.0 | [10][citation needed] |
| Watford | 15 June 2009 | 17 June 2011 | 99 | 33 | 25 | 41 | 033.3 | [16][59] |
| Cardiff City | 17 June 2011 | 27 December 2013 | 125 | 54 | 37 | 34 | 043.2 | [16][59] |
| Wigan Athletic | 19 November 2014 | 6 April 2015 | 25 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 020.0 | [59] |
| Scotland (caretaker) | 13 October 2017 | 16 February 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | [43][60] |
| Ross County | 26 May 2021 | 15 November 2023 | 107 | 31 | 25 | 51 | 029.0 | [59] |
| Total | 362 | 125 | 92 | 145 | 034.5 | — | ||
Celtic
Norwich City
Watford
Individual
Cardiff City
Ross County
Individual
