Malky Mackay will never forget how close he came to signing future Premier League superstar Jamie Vardy. A decade on, the Ross County boss reckons Celtic’s coup in plucking Matt O’Riley from obscurity could prove comparable in scale.
Leicester pipped Mackay’s Cardiff to future England star Vardy in a £1million deal from Fleetwood Town in 2012. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool were this week credited with interest in Vardy, just as O’Riley was being talked about as a potential £25m-plus target for English giants including Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester.
Mackay, who also managed Watford and Wigan before becoming SFA performance director, knows the UK transfer market like the back of his hand.
In just over a year with County he’s built a reputation north of the border for unearthing English lower league gems such as Regan Charles-Cook and also enhancing the careers of loan stars such as Arsenal’s former youth Harry Clarke and Watford’s Jo Hungbo.