[30 OCT 01]

Don Mackay was a little known coach who was thrust into the manager’s chair when Bobby Gould was sacked at Christmas 1984.

Mackay kept City up against all the odds in his first season but resigned near the end of the following season with the club once again hurtling down the relegation shute.

Born in the Partick area of Glasgow on 19 March 1940 he had an undistinguished playing career as a goalkeeper with Forfar Athletic, Dundee United and Southend United.

His coaching career started at Bristol City in the mid 1970s, where he befriended Bobby Gould, before he was appointed manager at Dundee. In his first season at Dens Park Mackay won promotion to the Premier League and inspired an exciting League Cup run which only ended in defeat in the final against their Tayside rivals, United.

Mackay stayed at Dundee until 1983 before taking up a position with Danish club Norlesundby for a short period. Then in September 1984 his old friend Gould tempted him back to England as his assistant at Coventry.

Within three months of Mackay joining the Sky Blues Gould was sacked after a run of miserable results and Mackay was given the job on a caretaker basis.

The club were 21st in the table and Mackay had little to lose taking the job. He recruited his old number 2 from Dundee, Frank Upton, and slowly pulled the Sky Blues to safety.

Wins at Old Trafford and St James’ Park were major achievements and a good home record boosted the points total. Having recently splashed out a big fee for Cyrille Regis there was no money available for wholesale changes but he made subtle changes and was blessed with a bit more luck than his predecessor.

With three games left City still had a mountain to climb to avoid the drop. Mackay inspired the team to win their final three games and stay up, culminating in a 4-1 home win over the champions Everton on the last Sunday in May.

There were high hopes for the following season but Mackay’s tactics were never clear, Regis was forced to play as a target man and City struggled from the start. The club’s finances were in a poor state, Terry Gibson was sold in the January and the proceeds bought Nick Pickering, Alan Brazil and Jim McInally. Unfortunately they were not the players to keep a desperate City in Division 1.

On 12 April City lost 0-5 at Anfield to make it eight games without a win and Mackay was forced to resign the following day. In hindsight he was probably not a big enough name for City but his outspoken views and dislike of what he saw as interfering directors did not help his cause.

Chairman John Poynton appointed George Curtis and John Sillett to succeed Don and they won two out of the three remaining games to avoid the drop.

After leaving Highfield Road Mackay assisted in coaching at Ibrox whilst Graeme Souness completed his commitments with Sampdoria before becoming Rangers’ boss.

Mackay then became manager of Blackburn Rovers in 1987, taking them to the Division 1 play-offs three times and winning the Full Members Cup in 1987. Mackay was very unfortunate to be sacked after three games of the 1991-92 season by Rovers new owner Jack Walker. Walker clearly wanted a big name in charge and hired Kenny Dalglish as manager.

Mackay was appointed manager of Fulham, ironically by Jimmy Hill, in early 1992 and although they came close to reaching the play-offs in his first season he was sacked in March 1994 with relegation looming.

FACTFILE