Mackay looks to future and hopes to put past behind him

New Ross County manager Malky Mackay is aiming to bring success to the Staggies and hopes controversy from the past will remain there.

Mackay was announced as successor to John Hughes on Wednesday and take the reins immediately.

His appointment has not been fully backed by the club’s supporters though. Ross County’s supporter liason officer tweeted that he was sharing the concerns of some fans with the club, referring to the reasons for Mackay leaving Cardiff City in 2013.

The manager was sacked from the Championship club after messages of a homophobic, racist and sexist nature, sent by Mackay to his head of recruitment, were made public. Though the FA didn’t punish the manager, he did undergo diversity awareness training.

Mackay hopes his work since then will allow people to draw their own conclusions.

He said: “That was something that was seven eight years ago now, well documented a variety of times, nothing to hide there in terms of the whole aspect of it and the interviews I went through for the next three, four years.

“Since then I have worked for another football club (Wigan), the Scottish FA and the governance of the game in Scotland for four years, been asked to be interim manager of the national team, and more recently UEFA and FIFA.

“I always try to attain to be better every day and I would hope that the people who genuinely know me and have come across me, especially in the last four years in Scottish football, make their own mind up as to who I am.

“What I can tell you is for the good of Ross County I will do everything in my power 24 hours a day to make sure the chairman and chief executive, and more importantly the fans and the community in the Highlands, are actually seeing someone wholly committed to their football club and who genuinely wants to make a difference here and help the club improve.”

Mackay, who was last in the dugout as caretaker Scotland boss, says he has “unfinished business” as a manager and told County fans to: “Hold on for the ride ahead”. The Staggies had to fight their way clear of relegation this season and only narrowly succeeded, with the new manager tasked with improving the team’s standing.

He said: “There is a plan that [chief executive] Steven Ferguson and [chairman] Roy MacGregor have for the club going forward.

“There seems to be an urge and wish to bring best practice to the club in a lot of aspects.

“The chairman talked to me about marginal gains, something I am used to being involved in, with the high performance area of the Scottish FA, and wanted to talk about going on a new journey here for the next few years. That is exciting.”