A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:29 am
Why Malky Mackay shouldn’t get the Scotland job and why he won’t
By Ewan Murray
Caretaker brings controversy and a patchy coaching history – after Holland he must go back to being performance director and, barring something strange, will
If Malky Mackay’s role in the scandal that engulfed him post-Cardiff City is commonly exaggerated, so too is his level of managerial talent. There had been decent, not stunning, success hardly far removed from a host of other coaches even before the Scot’s brief and disastrous spell in charge of Wigan Athletic.
Many would have had us believe Mackay represented the fresh face of Sir Alex Ferguson before Vincent Tan’s crucial intervention. Owen Coyle, Billy Davies and George Burley achieved similar things to Mackay, if not more, before sampling some harsh reality. Mackay’s transfer dealings after Cardiff had earned a Premier League place were threatening to undermine his earlier work even before the publication of text messages.
It is controversy which provides the asterisk beside Mackay’s name. This is the reason the Scottish Football Association had to withstand a furious backlash when hiring him as its performance director last December. Although it seems unreasonable to assert that Mackay should never work again because of previous mistakes for which he has shown deep remorse, his position as an influence and role model to youngsters remains questionable. When appointing Mackay as Scotland’s interim manager for Thursday’s friendly with Holland – a vacancy created after time was called on Gordon Strachan’s failed tenure – the Scottish FA again found itself subject to vociferous abuse.
Strangely, Mackay still apparently bears a grudge. He entered a room full of newspaper reporters when announcing his squad for this, an essentially irrelevant fixture, asserting this group were in place “to suck my blood”. Tea or coffee? “Something stronger to deal with this lot,” Mackay said. “Vodka maybe.” He was, of course, trying to be funny; the conduct seemed unprofessional and ignorant.
It therefore seems rich that Mackay would rather people forgive and forget transgressions, given his own attitude. Eyebrows were raised further when Eric Black, his choice of assistant, admitted he spends little or no time watching Scottish football. Around 15,000 will take in the Holland friendly.
Mackay picked an easy, soft-option squad which included only two strikers, one of whom has pulled out injured. The player with the highest number of assists in the Championship was ignored, as was Matt Ritchie; Mackay curiously insisted he knew nothing of the Newcastle United player’s refusal to join the Scottish party for crucial matches against Slovakia and Slovenia.
Mackay has tiptoed through the tulips in refusing to rule out permanently succeeding Strachan. That much is understandable. Had he stated an unwillingness to lead his country, the 45-year-old would have been criticised. Nonetheless, after the Holland game has passed, Mackay should be left alone to continue a hugely important background job, thereby potentially re-establishing a solid professional reputation. Barring a strange occurrence, he will be; the World Cup play-off between Northern Ireland and Switzerland is pertinent in relation to that bigger picture, with the Scottish FA known to be a keen admirer of Michael O’Neill.
Apart from anything else, Scottish football’s governing body can well do without the wave of external negativity and anger that would attach itself to letting Mackay lead the side. Sourcing performance directors has proved more troublesome than managers. David Moyes’s appointment by West Ham United is not relevant in a Scotland context; he was never a legitimate target to replace Strachan.
Scotland’s players have been impressed with Mackay’s intensity, information flow and approach to training. Perhaps this says much about his predecessor. Mackay and his squad have utilised the recently built national performance centre on the outskirts of Edinburgh, where facilities – including for sports science – are first class and were always intended as a base for Scotland’s teams. Strachan ignored this centre completely.
But for two scenarios, Mackay would not be in this position at all. The highly rated Austin MacPhee, who is part of Northern Ireland’s coaching staff, turned down the Scottish FA’s performance role in favour of becoming assistant manager at Heart of Midlothian. Had Scotland’s under-21s not been scheduled to play qualifying ties in the coming days their head coach Scot Gemmill – another man with a lofty reputation – would have been the obvious candidate to take charge of the Holland encounter.
Instead, Mackay will return to the dugout. Inevitably, a win over Holland would trigger speculation that the man capped five times should switch jobs. Yet there is no available logic, recent or otherwise, to suggest this should transpire. If not already on the Scottish FA’s payroll, Mackay would not be quoted as a serious candidate.
Scottish hope should partly lie in the identity of the opposition. Holland find themselves in international crisis after their own failure to reach the World Cup, with Dick Advocaat tipped to resign as the head coach before too long. That Advocaat wanted to bid farewell in Scotland makes sense, even if Pittodrie doesn’t; the former Rangers manager will be well aware of mutual hostility between his old club’s supporters and those of Aberdeen.
“This is a beautiful match with a real personal touch for me,” said Advocaat. Unlike Mackay, the 70-year-old has earned the right to determine his own future.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... are_btn_tw
By Ewan Murray
Caretaker brings controversy and a patchy coaching history – after Holland he must go back to being performance director and, barring something strange, will
If Malky Mackay’s role in the scandal that engulfed him post-Cardiff City is commonly exaggerated, so too is his level of managerial talent. There had been decent, not stunning, success hardly far removed from a host of other coaches even before the Scot’s brief and disastrous spell in charge of Wigan Athletic.
Many would have had us believe Mackay represented the fresh face of Sir Alex Ferguson before Vincent Tan’s crucial intervention. Owen Coyle, Billy Davies and George Burley achieved similar things to Mackay, if not more, before sampling some harsh reality. Mackay’s transfer dealings after Cardiff had earned a Premier League place were threatening to undermine his earlier work even before the publication of text messages.
It is controversy which provides the asterisk beside Mackay’s name. This is the reason the Scottish Football Association had to withstand a furious backlash when hiring him as its performance director last December. Although it seems unreasonable to assert that Mackay should never work again because of previous mistakes for which he has shown deep remorse, his position as an influence and role model to youngsters remains questionable. When appointing Mackay as Scotland’s interim manager for Thursday’s friendly with Holland – a vacancy created after time was called on Gordon Strachan’s failed tenure – the Scottish FA again found itself subject to vociferous abuse.
Strangely, Mackay still apparently bears a grudge. He entered a room full of newspaper reporters when announcing his squad for this, an essentially irrelevant fixture, asserting this group were in place “to suck my blood”. Tea or coffee? “Something stronger to deal with this lot,” Mackay said. “Vodka maybe.” He was, of course, trying to be funny; the conduct seemed unprofessional and ignorant.
It therefore seems rich that Mackay would rather people forgive and forget transgressions, given his own attitude. Eyebrows were raised further when Eric Black, his choice of assistant, admitted he spends little or no time watching Scottish football. Around 15,000 will take in the Holland friendly.
Mackay picked an easy, soft-option squad which included only two strikers, one of whom has pulled out injured. The player with the highest number of assists in the Championship was ignored, as was Matt Ritchie; Mackay curiously insisted he knew nothing of the Newcastle United player’s refusal to join the Scottish party for crucial matches against Slovakia and Slovenia.
Mackay has tiptoed through the tulips in refusing to rule out permanently succeeding Strachan. That much is understandable. Had he stated an unwillingness to lead his country, the 45-year-old would have been criticised. Nonetheless, after the Holland game has passed, Mackay should be left alone to continue a hugely important background job, thereby potentially re-establishing a solid professional reputation. Barring a strange occurrence, he will be; the World Cup play-off between Northern Ireland and Switzerland is pertinent in relation to that bigger picture, with the Scottish FA known to be a keen admirer of Michael O’Neill.
Apart from anything else, Scottish football’s governing body can well do without the wave of external negativity and anger that would attach itself to letting Mackay lead the side. Sourcing performance directors has proved more troublesome than managers. David Moyes’s appointment by West Ham United is not relevant in a Scotland context; he was never a legitimate target to replace Strachan.
Scotland’s players have been impressed with Mackay’s intensity, information flow and approach to training. Perhaps this says much about his predecessor. Mackay and his squad have utilised the recently built national performance centre on the outskirts of Edinburgh, where facilities – including for sports science – are first class and were always intended as a base for Scotland’s teams. Strachan ignored this centre completely.
But for two scenarios, Mackay would not be in this position at all. The highly rated Austin MacPhee, who is part of Northern Ireland’s coaching staff, turned down the Scottish FA’s performance role in favour of becoming assistant manager at Heart of Midlothian. Had Scotland’s under-21s not been scheduled to play qualifying ties in the coming days their head coach Scot Gemmill – another man with a lofty reputation – would have been the obvious candidate to take charge of the Holland encounter.
Instead, Mackay will return to the dugout. Inevitably, a win over Holland would trigger speculation that the man capped five times should switch jobs. Yet there is no available logic, recent or otherwise, to suggest this should transpire. If not already on the Scottish FA’s payroll, Mackay would not be quoted as a serious candidate.
Scottish hope should partly lie in the identity of the opposition. Holland find themselves in international crisis after their own failure to reach the World Cup, with Dick Advocaat tipped to resign as the head coach before too long. That Advocaat wanted to bid farewell in Scotland makes sense, even if Pittodrie doesn’t; the former Rangers manager will be well aware of mutual hostility between his old club’s supporters and those of Aberdeen.
“This is a beautiful match with a real personal touch for me,” said Advocaat. Unlike Mackay, the 70-year-old has earned the right to determine his own future.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... are_btn_tw
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Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:47 am
Igovernor wrote:https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/nov/08/malky-mackay-scotland-job?CMP=share_btn_tw
fair
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 10:30 am
Never thought he was a bad manager but never thought he was anything special either. He did an ok sort of job, particularly when given lots of money, but also proved that he was very capable of blowing big money on crap signings. I think the article is fair, and with his track record I would be surprised if he is given any permanent managerial jobs other than in the lower leagues. Very over rated.
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 10:33 am
Steve Zodiak wrote:Never thought he was a bad manager but never thought he was anything special either. He did an ok sort of job, particularly when given lots of money, but also proved that he was very capable of blowing big money on crap signings. I think the article is fair, and with his track record I would be surprised if he is given any permanent managerial jobs other than in the lower leagues. Very over rated.
Agree with you on those points. He was good at getting the job done. The football wasn't brilliant and we usually won by narrow margins but he did what we was needed at the time. Compared to Warnock his style was not as exciting or fun to watch but in terms of doing what was needed Malky excelled in that department
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 12:49 pm
fair..
his teams used to fall off the final 1/3rd of a season .apart from Wigan that never got going..
and to this day i can not understand why you would replace a manager who had only lost 1 of his last 9 games with one that had only won 1 in his last 9....
his teams used to fall off the final 1/3rd of a season .apart from Wigan that never got going..
and to this day i can not understand why you would replace a manager who had only lost 1 of his last 9 games with one that had only won 1 in his last 9....
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 1:07 pm
Igovernor wrote:https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/nov/08/malky-mackay-scotland-job?CMP=share_btn_tw
Def must work for Tan
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 1:12 pm
I wouldn't imagine the Guardian would be big fans of MM
Though it still amazes me that some of our fans don't respect him more
Though it still amazes me that some of our fans don't respect him more
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 1:13 pm
griff105 wrote:I wouldn't imagine the Guardian would be big fans of MM
Though it still amazes me that some of our fans don't respect him more
Very sad to see some of our fans slate Malky all the time, yet he is one of our greatest managers of all time for success
Re: A true reflection or a hatchet job?
Thu Nov 09, 2017 1:37 pm
Apparently mm is not interested in scots job but wants to continue in his present post! Scots fa said this morning on talk radio that they wil take time and will pick best man for job regardless of nationality.