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Matt McKay’s football career has an interesting history, with youth teams and the new A-league gifting him opportunities. But has McKay’s progress stalled?
McKay was born in Brisbane in 1983 and was a very talented local football junior.
After graduating from Brisbane Grammar’s first eleven, McKay polished his football skills at both the Queensland Institute of Sport and the Australian Institute of sport and was widely tipped to progress to the senior Socceroos squad and even to one day captain them.
At just 18 years of age, Mckay signed with the Brisbane Strikers in the now defunct National Soccer League and made 51 appearances.
During that time he was also selected for the Australian U20 squad and the Australian U23 Olympic team.
In 2003 Matt took part in the FIFA U20 World Youth Tournament, where Australia managed to top their group in the first stage, which included the Czech Republic and Brazil, who the Young Socceroos defeated convincingly 3-2.
They were eventually knocked out by the host nation UAE and Brazil went on to win the tournament 1-0 against Spain in the very entertaining final.
With the demise of the NSL in 2004, McKay resisted a move overseas and decided to hang around for the start of the A-League in 2005-2006.
He was one of the first choice foundation members signed by the then Queensland Roar, who subsequently changed their name to the Brisbane Roar, because of the introduction of two more Queensland A-League teams.
The Brisbane Roar midfielder, who made the number 15 maroon and orange shirt his own, spent five years at the club for 131 appearances and 18 goals.
He was the captain and an intergarl part of Ange Postecoglou’s 2011 A-League Premiership and Championship winning side, who were widely lauded as Australia’s best ever top tier football team.
Also during this period, Matt McKay finally broke into the senior Socceroos team for his first Socceroos cap on 16 August 2006, but only just in a token appearance as a substitute for Australia in the 90th minute of the 2007 Asian Cup Qualifier against Kuwait at Aussie Stadium.
Pim Verbeek, the then Socceroos coach, made no secret of his dislike of A-League players and his low opinion of their abilities and McKay would have to wait until 28 January 2009 for his second cap, again a very brief appearance in Australia’s dead rubber 2011 Asian World Cup Qualifier against Indonesia.
McKay was not selected to take any further part in the Socceroos qualifying campaign or the squad to travel to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Verbeek and was destined to remain a Socceroos outsider. In fact no Australian A-League player was selected by Verbeek in that 2010 World Cup squad.
The departure of Verbeek and the appointment of Holger Osieck as the new Socceroos manager, saw a surprising revival in McKay’s international career. The rise of Brisbane Roar and the standard of play in the A-League saw McKay and others come under the notice of Osieck.
Matty returned to the Socceroos under the new manager and impressed in three of Australia’s practice matches in the lead up to the 2011 Asian Cup.
McKay was one of the first chosen in the 2011 Asian Cup Squad and not only did Holger defend the selections, McKay and the A-League players were roundly praised by Osieck for their contribution to the national team. What a change from Pim Verbeek.
McKay went on to play a part in every game at the tournament, was named player of the match in the 6-0 semi-final demolition of Uzbekistan and was again a key player for Australia in the 2011 Asian Cup final in Australia’s narrow 1-0 loss to Japan over 120 minutes.
McKay’s exploits at the Roar and his international exposure at the Asian Cup put him on the international map once again and the Roar were soon fielding offers for McKay’s services, both here and overseas.
Six months ago, McKay finally settled on a move to Scottish Premier League giants Glasgow Rangers Football Club and left the Roar and Brisbane behind him.
Things looked very rosy for Matt, including a substantial pay increase and it was expected that he would soon break into the Rangers first team, consolidate his undoubted football skills and make the left midfield position for the Socceroos his own to keep, till retirement from international football.
But there are no guarantees in life, especially in professional football.
He has only made three appearances in the whole time he has been at Rangers and is yet to play a full game. It must be very cold sitting on those snow-covered, icy, wind-swept Scottish substitute’s benches, dreaming of those balmy Brisbane summers.
McKay obviously isn’t happy and wants out of his three-year deal with Rangers, but the club won’t let him go without a substantial fee, a price that no-one is prepared to pay, so he is stuck in football purgatory. I think Matty is starting to regret his move overseas to leave the Roar.
He isn’t even wanted by Ange Postecoglou, his recent mentor, who said neither he nor the club’s new billionaire owners were interested in paying any money for his return.
“Nothing new there,” he said when asked about reports Roar was considering paying the Scottish giant to secure McKay.
“He won’t be coming to Brisbane Roar. He wasn’t coming last week and he’s not coming this week.”
On the Socceroos front, McKay’s performances in the past few games have been below Osieck’s expectations and he has made that clear to him. His lack of match fitness is also playing against him and it looks likely he will be overlooked for the starting eleven in the next couple of Asian World Cup qualifiers.
Far from being a boost to his football career, the Rangers move has proven to be a disaster and under Holger Osieck a move back to the A-League would significantly improve his chances of making it all the way to Brazil 2014 with the Socceroos.
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