Malky Mackay is a professional football coach who is currently the manager of Ross County FC in the Scottish Premier League. He is a former footballer in the Scottish and English Premier Leagues and a Scottish International Cap. Mackay, who worked in Banking before professional football, is also a graduate of Warwick Business School. He started his career with the historic Queen’s Park FC before turning professional at 21 with Glasgow Celtic, where he would go on to win the Scottish Premier League. Malky joined English side Norwich City in 1998, remaining there for six years.
Between 2004 and 2006, he achieved the distinction of three consecutive promotions to the English Premier League with Norwich, West Ham United and Watford, all of whom he would captain. After retiring, Malky has gone on to manage Watford, Cardiff City, and Wigan FC. In 2013 Mackay was honoured by being voted LMA Manager of the Year by his peers after winning the English Championship and guiding Cardiff City to the English Premier League for the first time in their history.
Malky was headhunted to become Elite Performance Director of The Scottish Football Association in 2017, a role he would enjoy for four years. During this period, he added roles as a coach educator, consultant to UEFA and FIFA and was asked to become interim manager of Scotland. He joined SPL club Ross County FC in 2021 and in his first year Mackay achieved a top 6 finish with the Highland team and was shortlisted for Manager of the Year by the Scottish Football Writers.
“Malky has shown a willingness to learn and has always strived to succeed. This ambition gives him a high status
in the game and he has shown excellent leadership qualities and work ethic.”
Sir Alex Ferguson: Former Manager, Manchester United FC
“What impressed me most about Malky was his preparedness and sense of detail. He had studied the club and had
his plan, including tactical, sports science support, coaching and player development, academy and fan support
base. I was impressed by his sense of structure which I felt was imperative in giving the club the best chance of
achieving long term success. In 2013, Cardiff were promoted to the Premier League. Malky’s character as Manager
was central to the success of the playing squad.”
TG Chan: Former Chairman, Cardiff City FC