David Craig Mackay (14 November 1934 â 2 March 2015) was a Scottish football player and manager. Mackay was best known for a highly successful playing career with Heart of Midlothian, the double-winning Tottenham Hotspur side of 1961 and winning the league with Derby County as a manager. He also represented Scotland 22 times and was selected for their 1958 FIFA World Cup squad. Mackay tied with Tony Book of Manchester City for the Footballer of the Year award in 1969 and was later listed by the Football League in their "100 Legends", as well as being an inaugural inductee to both the English and Scottish Football Halls of Fame. He was described by Spurs as one of their greatest players and was known as 'the heartbeat' of their most successful ever team.
Mackay was born in Edinburgh. His father was a printer who worked for The Scotsman newspaper. As a young footballer, he was a Scottish Schoolboy international.
Mackay supported Hearts as a boy. He signed as a professional in 1952, initially on a part-time basis as he also worked as joiner. Mackay was given his first team debut in November 1953. He would be paired with John Cumming at wing half, which was to become the core of the team. Mackay was a talented all-round player; a strong tackler, physically fit and had good technique with the ball. Cumming's Iron Man nickname says much of his determination. Despite his commitment he retained control of his temper and was never booked in his career. Cumming was the only player to collect medals for all seven of the trophies Hearts won under manager Tommy Walker. "He never had a bad game. It was either a fairly good game or an excellent game," said Mackay later of his former teammate. Both went on to become full Scotland internationals while playing for Hearts.
Mackay was given a regular place in the team in the 1954âÂÂ55 season, with Freddie Glidden now playing at centre-half. Hearts won their first trophy since 1906, 48 years before, as they beat Motherwell 4âÂÂ2 in the 1954 Scottish League Cup Final. This would be the first of seven trophies over nine seasons between 1954 and 1963. After signing Alex Young and Bobby Kirk, Walker's side proceeded to win the 1955âÂÂ56 Scottish Cup. They thrashed Rangers 4âÂÂ0 in the quarter-finals with goals from Crawford, Conn and a Bauld double.
Mackay completed the set of Scottish domestic honours by winning the league championship in 1957âÂÂ58. Jimmy Wardhaugh was the league's top goalscorer with 28, while Jimmy Murray and Alex Young also scored more than 20. Mackay was fourth in Hearts' league scoring charts, with 12. Hearts won that League title in 1957âÂÂ58 with record-breaking points, goals scored and goal difference totals. Their record from 34 league games of 62 points out of a maximum possible 68 was 13 more than their nearest rival. They scored 132 goals (still the Scottish top tier record) with only 29 against for a record net difference of +103. Murray and Mackay both played for Scotland at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, where Murray scored in a 1âÂÂ1 draw against Yugoslavia. Mackay played in only the third of Scotland's three games at the World Cup.
In the 1958âÂÂ59 Scottish League Cup group stage Hearts eliminated Rangers. That October 1958 Scottish League Cup Final was won with a heavy 5âÂÂ1 defeat of Partick Thistle. Bauld and Murray each scored two and Johnny Hamilton netted one. This was the fourth and last Hearts trophy for Mackay.
He had some injury issues in what was to be his last year at Hearts. From late March he missed the last five games of the 1957âÂÂ58 successful league run in. He then missed the first five Hearts games at the start of the 1958âÂÂ59 season, returning at the end of August. After 6 December he was then eight weeks out the team with the 13 December 1959 crucial 5âÂÂ0 defeat away to Rangers the first game he missed before returning on 4 February for the 3âÂÂ1 Scottish Cup victory away at Queen of the South. Just over a month after he regained his place in the first team, Mackay again played Queen of the South this time in a 2âÂÂ1 home league win on 7 March 1959. The league game against QoS was Mackay's last for Hearts after they accepted a bid of ã32,000 from Tottenham Hotspur for their captain. In Hearts' next game Mackay's vacated half back berth was taken by George Thomson, who moved from inside forward. Thomson's inside forward spot was given to debutant Bobby Rankin, who had been signed for ã4,000 from Queen of the South two days before Mackay's last Hearts game. Hearts spent ã23,000 of the transfer on stadium improvements.
Aged 24, he was signed by Tottenham Hotspur for ã32,000 in March 1959 making his debut on 21 March in a 3âÂÂ1 home win against Manchester City. During the 1960s his fierce determination and skill contributed to the team which won the Double in 1960âÂÂ61. As double winners Spurs played in the 1961 FA Charity Shield against an FA XI which Spurs won 3âÂÂ2. In that 1961 FA Cup Final they beat Leicester City 2âÂÂ0. They retained the trophy when they won the 1962 FA Cup Final beating Burnley 3âÂÂ1. This put them into a second successive Charity Shield. In that 1962 FA Charity Shield they beat Ipswich Town 5âÂÂ1. This put Spurs into the 1962âÂÂ63 Cup Winners' Cup. However Mackay missed the 5âÂÂ1 1963 European Cup Winners' Cup Final victory over the defending champions Atlético Madrid at De Kuip in Rotterdam due to injured stomach muscles. Mackay had scored in the semi-final victory against OFK Beograd.
Spurs defended the Cup Winners' Cup the season after and were drawn to play the then FA Cup-holders, Manchester United, in the second round. Mackay scored the opener in the first leg 2âÂÂ0 victory at White Hart Lane. On 10 December 1963 Mackay broke his left leg in a challenge with United's Noel Cantwell after eight minutes of the return tie at Old Trafford. Without him his teammates lost 4âÂÂ1 due to a double strike by Bobby Charlton in the last 13 minutes. Mackay had just turned 29 the month before. The break was a serious one, and it took nine months before he attempted a comeback. Playing for Tottenham's reserves at home to Shrewsbury Town on 12 September 1964, he broke the same bone a second time, this time in a challenge with Peter Dolby. Mackay returned at the start of the 1965âÂÂ66 season having missed a year and a half of first-team football.
In 1966 Mackay was photographed by Daily Mirror photographer Monte Fresco in an on-pitch confrontation with Leeds United's Billy Bremner. Mackay's face contorted, he is seen grabbing Bremner's shirt. The image is seen as one of the most iconic in UK football although Mackay hated it as it portrayed him as a bully. Mackay stated he reacted in the manner he did since Bremner targeted Mackay's left leg (the one he had broken twice) even though this leg was furthest away from Bremner.
Tottenham won the 1967 FA Cup Final beating Chelsea 2âÂÂ1 for a third success in that tournament with Mackay. In the subsequent Charity Shield, Spurs drew 3âÂÂ3 with Manchester United in a match remembered for goalkeeper Pat Jennings scoring with a kick from his own penalty area.
Mackay made 268 league appearances for Tottenham. With Mackay Spurs won one league championship, three FA Cups, one European Cup Winners' Cup and two FA Charity Shields as well as the 1967 Charity Shield that they shared because of the draw. None of these trophies were won in the two seasons affected by Mackay's lengthy injury due to his leg break. Brian Clough claimed in 2003 that Mackay was Tottenham Hotspur's greatest ever player.
Aged 33, at the start of the 1968âÂÂ69 season he transferred to Derby County for ã5,000. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor persuaded him to sign. In his first season at the Baseball Ground, in which the club gained promotion to the First Division, he was chosen FWA Footballer of the Year, jointly with Manchester City's Tony Book. When he was a player at Derby County, Clough made Mackay play in a sweeping role and used his influence on the team to encourage them to turn defence into attack through a passing game. He left Derby in 1971, a year before they won the First Division title.
Aged 36, he joined Swindon Town in 1971 as player/manager where he stayed one season before he retired as a player and focused solely on management.
Aged 22, Mackay made his debut for Scotland on 26 May 1957 in a qualifying game for the 1958 World Cup, against Spain at the Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Scotland qualified for the tournament in Sweden, with Mackay playing a single game, on 15 June 1958, against France; a 2âÂÂ1 defeat at the Eyravallen Stadium in ÃÂrebro. He first captained his country in his third international, on 18 October 1958, in a 3âÂÂ0 away win against Wales in the British Home Championships. The first four of his full caps were when he was with Hearts. The remainder were when he was with Tottenham. The first of his four international goals was in a friendly game at the Prater Stadium in Vienna on 29 May 1960 in a 3âÂÂ1 away defeat to Austria.
His 15th cap was the disastrous 9âÂÂ3 defeat at Wembley to England in April 1961;. Mackay then spent two years out of the side, with Jim Baxter and Paddy Crerand usually being the preferred half back pairing. Mackay was recalled two years later in April 1963, again versus England at Wembley, but this time Scotland won 2âÂÂ1. In his two years out the team Mackay missed the entire qualification campaign for the 1962 FIFA World Cup (Scotland were eliminated in a play off by the eventual tournament runners-up, Czechoslovakia). Mackay had been incumbent in the half back line for three straight games leading up to the game for Spurs in December 1963 in which he broke his leg.
He made 22 national appearances, his last coming on 2 October 1965, again in the British Home Championships, a 3âÂÂ2 away defeat to Northern Ireland. His last cap was the only one he collected after the leg break.
In 1971 Mackay was appointed player-manager of Swindon Town but left after just one season to take charge of Nottingham Forest. He remained at the City Ground until October 1973, when he returned to Derby as manager following Clough's resignation. In his first season Derby finished third in the table. In his second season in charge of Derby, he guided the team to the 1974âÂÂ75 league title. The following season, he managed the club to a respectable fourth-place finish in the league, the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and a second-round exit to Real Madrid in the 1975âÂÂ76 European Cup. Having beaten them 4âÂÂ1 in the first leg, a weakened Derby side were beaten 5âÂÂ1 in the return leg. At one stage the side had been in the running for the Double. Mackay was sacked in November 1976 after a poor start to the 1976âÂÂ77 season.
Mackay then had a spell as Walsall manager from March 1977 to August 1978. This was followed by nine years coaching in Kuwait. He returned to the UK and was appointed manager of Doncaster Rovers in 1987, a year after being linked with the Scotland manager's job (which ultimately went to Andy Roxburgh). Mackay's reign at Belle Vue lasted until March 1989 before he moved to Birmingham City, who had just been relegated to the third tier of the league for the first time in their history. His task was simple â to get Birmingham promoted to the Second Division. But he was unsuccessful in trying to achieve this and resigned in 1991. After that, Mackay headed to Africa to manage Egyptian club Zamalek SC, a Cairo based football team, with which he won the Egyptian Premier League two times, in both the seasons he was manager. He then spent a further three years in Qatar, managing the Qatar national football team, before retiring from football altogether in 1997.
In 2004 The Real Mackay was published, an autobiography written with Martin Knight. Mackay had previously published Soccer My Spur in the early 1960s.
Mackay was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as both a player and manager, Two years later, he was an inaugural inductee of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. In 2006, he also became an inaugural inductee of the Heart of Midlothian Hall of Fame in recognition of his success as a player in the 1950s. In 2013, Mackay was one of eleven British football stars chosen by Royal Mail to feature on a set of stamps marking the 150th anniversary of The Football Association.
Mackay appears as a character in David Peace's novel The Damned Utd, a fictionalised account of Brian Clough's time as manager of Derby County and Leeds United. In the film adaptation of the book, The Damned United, Mackay is played by Brian McCardie. Mackay successfully took legal action against the makers of the film over its inaccurate portrayal of the events surrounding Clough's departure from Derby and Mackay's appointment.
George Best (1946âÂÂ2005), of Manchester United, one of Tottenham's fiercest rivals in the 1960s, described Mackay as "the hardest man I have ever played against â and certainly the bravest".
Mackay died on 2 March 2015 at the age of 80. Heart of Midlothian stated "It is with deep regret that we have to advise of the death of Dave Mackay who was possibly the most complete midfield player that Scotland has ever produced". Tottenham wrote in an obituary "Dave Mackay will certainly always be remembered here as one of our greatest ever players and a man who never failed to inspire those around him. In short, a Spurs legend". His coffin was brought into his funeral by John Robertson and Gordon Marshall (ex-Hearts), Pat Jennings and Cliff Jones (ex-Tottenham) and Roy McFarland and John McGovern (ex-Derby). A eulogy was given by Alex Ferguson.
After his sacking at Derby County there was a cutting in Norman Stanley Fletcher's cell Mackay Sacked in Porridge which was a joke to Mr. Mackay.
Heart of Midlothian
Tottenham Hotspur
Derby County
Scotland national team
Derby County
Zamalek
Al-Arabi