A NUMBER of years ago now, Malky Mackay was taking in a Fulham game at Craven Cottage one Saturday when he was introduced to an Australian coach who had travelled to England in the hope of landing a job by a mutual acquaintance.
The two men spent a little time exchanging pleasantries, discussing their careers and offering insights into football in their respective nations before returning to their seats to watch the second-half action.
It was just a brief encounter. So fleeting, in fact, that the Ross County manager quickly forgot all about it. Until, that is, he was reminded by his Celtic counterpart Ange Postecoglou - for it was he – last season.
“It was bizarre when he told me we had met before,” said Mackay earlier this week as he finalised preparations for the cinch Premiership game against the league leaders and defending champions at the Global Energy Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
“We stood and had a chat, myself and an Australian coach, for 10 minutes in a busy lounge at half-time at Craven Cottage. I can certainly remember that. But I had to own up and tell him that I couldn’t remember him.”
Postecoglou, though, has certainly made a lasting impression on the Scot since finally securing employment on these shores and taking over at his old club two year ago.
Mackay spent five years as a player at Parkhead during the 1990s – during which time he worked under no fewer than six different managers - so he has a good understanding of the difficulties and demands which his opposite number faces on a daily basis.
He is a huge admirer of the transformation which the Greek-Australian has overseen, the attractive attacking football which his team produces both at home and abroad as well as the dignified way he conducts himself in the high-profile role.
“Ange is a terrific coach,” he said. “He is someone I have got a hell of a lot of respect for. I have studied his side over the last couple of years. He is a very good tactically. He has a way of playing that is exciting the fans of his club.
“His recruitment has also been excellent. He has opened up the market in the Far East and Australia since he has arrived and I think the players who have come in from those parts of the world have enhanced the Premiership.
“I don’t think anyone could get anywhere close to understanding the pressure that guy has on him. But he has handled it so, so well. It is a measure of the man. He is a very good ambassador for his football club. We have got on well since meeting again.”
County are in second bottom spot in the Premiership table just two points above Dundee United with nine games of the 2022/23 campaign remaining. The Dingwall outfit need to finish strongly to avoid relegation. The run-in promises to be nerve-wracking for them.
Mackay, though, is still enthused about his team facing Celtic, who have lost just one of the 36 domestic fixtures they have played all season, in their first outing since the international break this weekend and expects his charges, despite their precarious predicament, to be as well.
“Playing against Celtic brings its challenges,” he said. “But I love it. I have really enjoyed managing against both Celtic and Rangers in the last two seasons. Don’t get me wrong, when they are on their game, the opposition dugout can be an interesting place to be.
“But, as I say to my players, you should want to test yourself against the best players and in the toughest environments and in front of the biggest crowds at the largest stadiums. It is what I have always loved doing as a player, coach and manager. That has not changed.
“Any time you go to Ibrox or Parkhead I genuinely embrace it. If you don’t, if you go in there tentatively, you can get really pay the price. If you don’t get your tactics right, you can get really hurt.”
Mackay has got his gameplan spot on more often than not. His men were drawing 1-1 with Rangers at Ibrox in February with 15 minutes remaining. They were, too, leading Celtic 1-0 at Parkhead after an hour back in November.
He is convinced they can give their survival hopes a significant boost and make what has to date been a one-sided title race a little more interesting by recording a shock result tomorrow if they perform to their best and, crucially, convert their chances.
The arrival of Eamonn Brophy on loan from St Mirren and Simon Murray from Queen’s Park in January has, he hopes, addressed a major weakness in his side.
The loss of Regan Charles-Cook, Joseph Hungbo and Blair Spittal, a trio who between them claimed 27 of the 52 goals they netted in the 2021/22 season, last summer has been keenly felt in the past eight months.
“With Spitts, Joe and Regan all moving on we knew we were going to lose a lot of goals,” he said. “It was always going to be a challenge to replace them. I think we have played reasonably well. Goalscoring is the thing we have missed this season. That is where we have been punished.
“It is something I have spoken to Roy (Ross County owner MacGregor) and Steven (chief executive Ferguson) about – creating a small talent ID department at the club so we have got long-term thinking in terms of building a squad.
“Logisitcally, it is not that easy for them. We are a very small club punching above our weight in the Premiership. The more seats in the stadium than there are people who live in Dingwall. And there is a stronger Premiership than there has been for a while. We also have to persuade people to come up north.
“It is a challenging job this. But at the same time, I am working with really good people. The biggest strength I have got and the club has got is Roy and Steven. They are very consistent and passionate people. They care about the club. They are both vastly-experienced.”
As, for that matter, is Mackay. He played for Norwich City, West Ham and Watford, managed Watford, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic and spent four years as the SFA performance director. There is not very much he has not dealt with during the past three decades.
Yet, the grounding he received when he started out in the professional game at Celtic has prepared him for everything he has encountered. He was at Parkhead at a time of great upheaval. There was a lack of investment in the squad and unrest in the stands which culminated in the Fergus McCann takeover in 1994.
He still draws on his experiences, both good and bad, in the East End in Glasgow to this day. Tommy Burns, the manager who handed him his first team debut, was a huge influence. He adopts exactly the same approach to adversity as his mentor did at County.
“It was a really turbulent to begin with,” he said. “Rangers were incredibly dominant back then. Celtic chopped and changed managers. There was a real lack of stability. But when Tommy came in it was the calmest period there had been for a number of years.
“He was a great coach and commanded massive respect from his players. We learned a lot from him. He had a very fluid way of playing. It was an incredibly attack-minded team. I loved it.
“Tommy was very at ease as a man manager. That was one of his big skills. As a young player, I looked up to him. I would have done anything for him. He was great with the youngsters, myself, Simon Donnelly, Brian McLaughlin, Jackie McNamara, Stewart Kerr. He made you feel 10 feet tall. When a manager can do that, it helps.
“Part of the manager’s job is to lead. People are looking at you every day, listening to what you say, scrutinising how you are with people and what your body language is like. The mood of the football club can hinge on how the manager is. I am very aware the quality of my communication here has to inspire. Tommy did that.”
“He had a group of strong characters, of leaders, who just wanted a bit of direction and belief and he gave that to them. He signed some great players as well. He went out and brought in Pierre van Hooijdonk, Paulo Di Canio, Andreas Thom and Jorge Cadete. You just thought: ‘Wow!’”
Mackay played a handful of games under Wim Jansen in the 1997/98 season and helped Celtic to end their city rivals’ record-equalling spell of domestic dominance with League Cup and Premier Division victories.
“It was great to see the club have success and the support enjoying it after a barren period,” he said. “To be involved in that was quite something. But, as good as it was, I realised I had to look at my own career. I wanted to play every week.”
The centre half did not have cause to regret his decision. He spent the next 10 years plying his trade down south, including in the Premier League, and was capped by Scotland at the age of 32 in 2004. But he always felt fortunate to be mixing with such exalted company.
“Watford played against Liverpool one day and Steven Gerrard hit a pass in the middle of the park,” he said. “The ball must have flown 60 yards. But at no stage did it ever come more than two feet off the ground. It was drilled like a rocket. After the game, I was sitting with Jay DeMerit, the other centre half, in the dressing room in disbelief. and I said: ‘Did you see that?’
“Norwich played Chelsea in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge on the night Gianfranco Zola scored his famous back heel goal at a corner. Fortunately, I wasn’t the man who was supposed to be picking him up! But I always felt a little bit if Imposter Syndrome. I genuinely wondered if I should be playing at that level.”
Malky Mackay knows Ross County deserve to be playing in the Premiership. But his managerial abilities will be tested to the full during the visit of Celtic tomorrow and in the eight league games thereafter.
If he can keep his side up it will be an achievement to rank alongside any other he has overseen in the game. If he fails to do so he is well aware of what the consequences could be for him personally.
But he will certainly relish trying to get the better of his auld mucker Postecoglou, attempting to beat his former club Celtic and of striving to stay in the Premiership.
“Last season, Celtic scored their winner against us up here seven minutes into injury-time,” he said. “When we were winning at Parkhead this season you could have heard a pin drop. They brought on some players and won the game. But what I heard from the crowd at the end was relief. We have to keep trying to punch above our weight. We are still in the fight.”
