Brora Rangers' Steven Mackay to focus on managing as he hangs up his boots following derby win
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Brora boss Steven Mackay has revealed how the "footballing gods" played a part in his decision to call time on his playing career.
Mackay came off the bench to score one of the goals in the Highland League champions' 5-1 victory over far north rivals Wick Academy on Saturday. Afterwards the 39-year-old confirmed he is hanging up his boots and will now concentrate fully on managing.
“I’ve decided to retire now so I won’t be playing any more," the 39-year-old said.
“Ideally I wanted to finish at home, against Wick, and to come on and get a goal… I said to myself that if I was able to do that then I would call it a day. So that’s my final game."
Mackay got the fourth for Brora in the first match at Dudgeon Park since fans were allowed back in under Covid-19 restrictions.
Paul Brindle and Jordan Macrae put Brora two up before Jack Henry pulled one back before the break. Andy Macrae extended Brora’s lead before Mackay got in on the act and Martin Maclean rounded off the scoring late on.
“I felt that if we were comfortable in the game I could afford to put myself on and hopefully I would nick a goal, and I was lucky the way it panned out," Mackay said.
“Maybe it was a bit of fate. Maybe the footballing gods are telling me that my time is up, so they rewarded me with one last goal.
“When you get to my age it’s always something you know is imminent. It’s all about picking the right time, and you want to be in control of when it ends rather than people telling you that you’re long past it.
“It has worked out perfectly, and I will focus on managing now.
“To be honest, I didn’t play that many games last season. Although I was registered as a player, I wasn’t playing enough probably to warrant playing for another season.
“We’ve got a strong squad, we’ve got a young squad. It’s time for those boys to kick on and hopefully I can play my part in developing them as players.”
A brief spell in the North Caledonian League, before the delayed kick-off to the Highland League campaign, helped Mackay to make up his mind. He played four matches for his local team Invergordon.
“To be honest I don’t think the North Caledonian League gets the credit it deserves," Mackay said.
“I went there to get match fitness and to help Invergordon out. I perhaps, rightly or wrongly, felt I could go there and perform at a high level, but I actually found it quite tough. The fact that I’m almost 40 doesn’t help – I’ll be 40 in June.
“The North Caledonian League is full of a lot of young players and they press you well.
“I have been thinking about when is the right time to retire. Going to Invergordon and playing was meant to improve my fitness and get me ready for the season but it probably had the opposite effect, and I thought maybe it’s time to hang the boots up and it’s a young man’s game."
Mackay's decision brings an end to a playing career that began more than 20 years ago at Ross County. He also turned out for Elgin City, Peterhead and Nairn County before moving to Brora in 2012, and was appointed player/manager of the Cattachs in 2018.
He has been a key figure in Brora's rise as the leading force in Highland League football.
Earlier this year Mackay dedicated his Highland League manager of the year award to his coaching team, saying Brora could not have won the title without them. He wanted to give credit to assistant manager Craig Campbell and coach David Hind, saying they were instrumental in the club’s success.
Reflecting on the derby win, Mackay agreed with the assessment of his Wick counterpart Gary Manson that it was a more competitive match than the scoreline might suggest.
“Result-wise, it does look like it was comfortable for us – but there were spells in the first half and in the second half where it was far from comfortable," the Brora boss said.
“We got our noses in front and deservedly so in terms of going 2-0 up. I felt at that point we took our foot off the gas a little bit, got a little bit sloppy and complacent and allowed Wick to come back into the game.
“They got a goal back and we were quite flat for the remainder of the first half. So we spoke to the players at half-time and just said it was important to get the third goal and try and kill the game off as quickly as possible.
“But it was actually Wick, to give them credit, who started the second half stronger as well and they had a big chance early on in the second half – Davie Allan was through one-on-one and probably should have scored but thankfully for us Joe Malin made a great save.
“That has probably been the catalyst to give us a kick up the backside to increase our intensity levels and be a bit more positive and more on the front foot. We got the third goal and it was relatively comfortable from that point on.”
The result means Brora’s goal tally is into double figures after their first two games, having beaten Deveronvale 5-0 on the opening weekend.
“It’s great to score the goals – we pride ourselves on getting the ball down and getting the ball forward quickly, and we’ve got a lot of players within our team that can create goals and also score goals,” Mackay said.
“And it’s nice to see that goals have been spread amongst the team, not just Andy Macrae or Jordan Macrae. There are midfielders that chip in and boys at the back as well. That’s pleasing, that we’re not heavily reliant on two players.
“To score five goals in both our opening games is great. I’m quite disappointed with the goal that we conceded – I think it could have been avoided.
“We pride ourselves on clean sheets and we always want teams to work hard to score against us. I don’t think Wick needed to work particularly hard for their goal.
“Nevertheless it was a satisfying afternoon. A win against Wick is always pleasing so we can’t complain too much.”
Table-topping Brora are firm favourites to go on and retain the title.
“You have to accept the fact that if you’re the reigning champions there is going to be an element of other teams putting us as favourites," Mackay said. “We’re well aware of that and we’ve not disguised the fact that our objective is to win the league. We’re big enough to handle the pressure that comes with that.
“We would never be complacent and expect that we can just turn up and win – we’ve got to earn the right to win these games.
“It’s a great start for us, two wins out of two, with 13 games left to go. We’ve just got to keep chipping away at them one by one.”
