Fans have their say on Malky Mackay's tenure as Ross County manager as former Scottish FA performance director celebrates one year in charge of the Staggies
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Today marks one year since Ross County appointed Malky Mackay as first team manager.
At the time, it was a highly controversial choice from the Staggies, with Mackay out of the club game for six years after allegations of racism, sexism and homophobia.
There was outrage on social media from football fans across Scotland even before the appointment was confirmed, with the rumour mill swirling and betting suspended the day before an official announcement was made.
Outcry on social media
Mackay's appointment was a hot topic far beyond Ross County supporters.
There had been plenty of resistance when the former Scottish FA performance director was placed in interim charge of the national team in 2017, and four years later it seemed as though there had been no change in public opinion.
What Mackay and Ross County said
There was no way of avoiding the response from fans when Mackay was unveiled to the media for the first time.
Both he and the club's chief executive officer Steven Ferguson fielded a number of questions about the allegations in his past, his time away from club football and the strength of feeling amongst supporters.
Mackay pointed to the length of time that had passed since the allegations, as well as the work he had done since at Wigan Athletic and with the Scottish FA as evidence that he had nothing to hide.
He also said that he tried to be better every day, and that he had learned a lot in and out of football – while decreeing to give his all to Ross County.
Perhaps most importantly, his message to fans was that they should judge him based on what they saw and heard going forward, rather than constantly looking to the past.
As far as Ferguson was concerned, he made sure to say that there were no skeletons in the closet from Mackay's past that County were unaware of and pleaded with fans to give the newly installed boss a chance to prove himself.
From the club's point of view, they believed Mackay was the man to implement a total overhaul in Dingwall. Talk was of changing the way the Staggies went about recruiting and developing players in order to compete with bigger city clubs.
What happened next
It seemed at first that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Mackay.
Covid restrictions were still in place, meaning that the same fans who needed to be convinced could not physically attend matches to see Mackay's team play in person.
Covid itself wreaked havoc with the club's pre-season, with all footballing operations being shut down for a spell and two forfeits in the League Cup group stages costing County any chance of progress.
Things did not go much better in the league either, with County failing to win any of their first 10 Premiership matches under Mackay.
Pressure was building, seemingly from all sides, going into the match against Dundee in October, but that proved to be a pivotal turning point in the season.
County won 5–0 in a swashbuckling first half performance at Dens Park, and never looked back. A team that suddenly began to gel together nicely were scoring goals for fun, gaining results and rising up the league table.
Regan Charles-Cook was inspired in front of goal, helping the Staggies not just off the foot of the table but seemingly clear of a relegation battle altogether, as Dingwall collectively began to look up the table and wonder what could be achieved.
With teams above them faltering on a regular basis, the top six looked possible – a far cry from pre-season hopes of just staying in the division for another year.
That culminated in a 1–0 victory away at Aberdeen in the last game before the split, as Joe Hungbo's penalty sealed County's spot in the top half for the first time in six years.
From there, it looked like the Staggies could mount a challenge for European football, however a particularly disappointing defeat to Motherwell in the final week of the season kept County in sixth – still an impressive achievement for a side that were many pundits' pre-season picks to go down.
Off the pitch, Mackay has also met with fans and had his say on the Rainbow Laces campaign, as well as taking the knee after Charles-Cook was subjected to racist abuse online.
Has fan opinion changed?
It has certainly been a good year for County on the pitch, but it must be said that very few of supporters' reservations about Mackay's appointment concerned on-field matters.
Mackay asked to be judged on what fans saw and heard from him this season, so after a year when the Staggies faithful were dreaming of getting their passports ready, are things any different now?
For the most part, the perception of Mackay seems to be a positive one overall now.
Some were in no doubt that he has done a good job in Dingwall over the last 12 months, but pointed out that there were still challenges ahead that Mackay would need to deal with.
Others, meanwhile, still find it difficult to ignore the allegations in Mackay's past. Even in those cases, though, opinion seems to have become more positive on County's manager due to last season's performances.
One year ago, there was talk of fans boycotting the club as a result of Mackay's appointment.
Now, admittedly in a small sample size, there was only a single response to the question indicating that would still be the case going forward.
