Watford After
Brendan Rodgers resigned in June 2009, Mackay took over as the
manager of Watford. Watford drew 1–1 on their league visit to Reading on 26 September 2009, and by their second meeting late in the season Rodgers had been dismissed by Reading after only a few months in charge. As for Mackay and Watford,
2009–10 was a difficult season where their Championship status was under threat for a long time, but by the end of April survival had been achieved against Reading, ending the season 14th place in the league.
Cardiff City were beaten in the
2012 League Cup Final Mackay signed a three-year contract as
Cardiff City manager on 17 June 2011, with Watford receiving an undisclosed fee in compensation. His reign began with a 1–0 away win over
West Ham United. The side were undefeated in September, resulting in Mackay being nominated for the September
Championship Manager of the Month in his first month managing the Welsh club. Another unbeaten month for Cardiff resulted in Mackay winning the award in November. He guided Cardiff to their first ever
League Cup final, following wins over
Oxford United,
Huddersfield Town,
Leicester City,
Burnley,
Blackburn Rovers and
Crystal Palace in earlier rounds. The week before the League Cup final, Mackay signed a three-and-a-half-year contract extension, tying him to the club until June 2016. Mackay's side were beaten by
Liverpool in the Wembley final, losing 3–2 on penalties, with a 2–2 scoreline after extra time. Cardiff's season ended where it began, as they were beaten 5–0 on aggregate by
West Ham United in the promotion playoffs. Following the success of his first season in Wales, Mackay was reportedly one of the candidates to replace
Paul Lambert at
Premier League side
Norwich City. He turned down the offer and said he was fully committed to Cardiff City. He oversaw Cardiff's strongest ever home start to a league season, as they won each of their first ten fixtures at
Cardiff City Stadium, the previous club record being nine consecutive home wins. Mackay went on to lead Cardiff to promotion to the Premier League, and sealed the
Championship title after a 1–1 draw away at
Burnley. Mackay was voted the
League Managers Association (LMA) Championship Manager of the Year on 21 May 2013. During the
2013–14 season, Mackay came under criticism from club owner
Vincent Tan concerning his signings, transfer budgets, results and style of play. In December 2013, Tan told Mackay to resign from the club or be dismissed. After a 3–0 home defeat to
Southampton, Mackay was sacked by Cardiff on 27 December 2013 after a meeting with the club's directors.
Wigan Athletic Mackay was appointed manager of
Wigan Athletic on 19 November 2014, despite fan opposition, after the Championship side had dismissed
Uwe Rösler. The appointment was criticised by the
Kick It Out campaign, who said that the club had disregarded the ongoing FA investigation into text messages sent by Mackay. A shirt sponsor of the club, Premier Range, withdrew their backing after Mackay was appointed. On 22 November, in his first game as manager, Wigan drew 1–1 against
Middlesbrough at the
DW Stadium. He was dismissed on 6 April 2015, after a 0–2 defeat to
Derby County left the club eight points from safety of relegation in the division. During his 138-day tenure, Wigan achieved 19 points from a possible 72, winning 5 games of 24 played in the
Championship. The move was welcomed by fans with Wigan Athletic Supporters Club spokesperson Caroline Molyneux telling BBC Sport: "I think [Mackay's sacking] is a popular decision among the fans." Mackay had received public backing by newly appointed club chairman
David Sharpe as recently as March 2015 when he described Mackay as "a big part of what we are doing here".
Scottish Football Association In December 2016, the
Scottish Football Association (Scottish FA) appointed Mackay as its performance director, responsible for overseeing the development of young players. The appointment was criticised by some people, including politician
Clare Haughey, due to Mackay's previous behaviour. During his tenure with the SFA, Mackay was appointed caretaker manager of the
Scotland national team. He gave four players debuts in his only match, which the team lost 1–0 to the
Netherlands in a friendly at
Pittodrie on 9 November 2017. Mackay resigned from his position as performance director in November 2020.
Ross County Mackay was appointed manager of
Ross County in May 2021. The move was once again met with fan backlash as a section of Ross County fans criticised the club's decision to appoint Mackay as manager. In his first season as manager, County finished in sixth position in the
Scottish Premiership despite being favourites for relegation. They fell to an 11th-place finish in
2022–23, and avoided relegation by winning a play-off against
Partick Thistle on
penalties. Mackay was sacked by County on 15 November 2023, with the team on a nine-game winless run and sitting in 11th place in the
Premiership table. ==Controversies==