Former Watford, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic manager Malky Mackay is the shock front-runner for the Ross County job.
Tuesday morning money coming in has taken Mackay into pole position as far as mcbookie.com is concerned, so much so betting has been suspended.
The Scottish Premiership club is on the hunt for a new boss after John Hughes, who guided the Staggies to safety earlier this month, was not handed a permanent deal on Monday.
Mackay (49) was the Scottish FA’s performance director for four years and quit that position last November once the national side had qualified for the Euro finals, which they are just about to compete in under boss Steve Clarke.
All the money has been for Malky Mackay to be the next Ross County manager. Doesn’t look like people are guessing and would suspect there is definitely something to it. Market suspended at the moment pic.twitter.com/55k8lXK1x4
— McBookie (@McBookie) May 25, 2021
Mackay led Cardiff into England’s Premier League in 2013 but by December that year he was sacked after a tough start to life in the top-flight.
The next year saw Cardiff contact the FA with alleged evidence of racist, sexist and homophobic text messages sent by Mackay.
He had been linked to the Crystal Palace job but the knock-on effect of these allegations ended that chance for the Bellshill-born coach.
In November 2014, despite protests Mackay landed the manager’s job at Wigan Athletic. With the FA investigation into the above allegations ongoing, it was not a popular pick for Wigan fans.
However, on the field it never worked out for the Championship side and he was sacked in April 2015 on the back of poor results in the shape of 19 out of a possible 72 points.
He was back in Scotland to take up the Scottish FA’s performance director role from December 2016.
Anti-racism group Kick It Out defended that move, saying he had received diversity and equality training from the FA in recent years.
Time right for a management return?
He was well thought of within the walls of Hampden and even took charge of Scotland for a friendly 1-0 defeat at Holland at Pittodrie in November 2017 after Gordon Strachan had departed the boss’s job.
Having been outside football management for a number of years, he’d no doubt relish the chance to take charge of County, who are gearing up for a third successive season back in the Premiership.
There are several contenders linked to the Dingwall vacancy, but Mackay is now the hot tip.