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Fullname: John Reid McKay
aka: Johnny McKay, John McKay, Jock McKay
Born: 1 November 1898
Died: 6 February 1970
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 2 June 1919
Left: 11 November 1921
Position: Inside-right
Debut: Queen’s Park 1-2 Celtic, League, 13 Mar 1920
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 1
International Goals: 0
Biog
First spotted by the Bhoys’ scouts at St Anthony’s, Johnny McKay eventually came to Celtic straight from the Royal Scots Fusiliers with whom he served with in World War I.
The inside-right officially signed for the Bhoys in June 1919, and he would make a scoring debut in a 2-1 league win over Queen’s Park at Hampden on March 13 1920.
He scored an excellent six goals in ten games as a Celt, but despite his obvious talent Johnny was allowed to join Blackburn Rovers in November 1921. The reasoning for his transfer was as Willie Maley believed that the brilliant but erratic Tommy McInally represented a better long term bet for the Bhoys. Possibly Johnny McKay would have been a more stable long-term investment, but probably not as entertaining.
However, his spate of goals came in his initial run of games in the final quarter of season 1919/20, as Celtic fell just short of Rangers by three points to lose out on the title. He scored a double v Ayr Utd, and a winning goal v Airdrie which helped push Celtic.
The next season, he only got to play as a gap-filler in four games, three of which were late on in the season by which time the league had already been lost. His goal scoring had diminished, scoring just the one goal in a 1-1 draw with Clydebank. Two defeats v Raith Rovers and Ayr Utd, seemed to not help his case.
It meant he missed out on league title medals as his two seasons of playing with Celtic’s first team were sandwiched in between championship winning seasons at Celtic.
John McKay enjoyed a good career at the Ewood Park club where he went on to become a firm crowd favourite and won a single cap as a Scotland international, so maybe Celtic should have further persevered with him. He later played for Middlesborough and Hibernian. His one cap was against Wales in February 1924 in a 2-0 defeat in Cardiff.
He later went on to serve for his country again in the Second World War, driving lorries for the Army.
He passed away in 1970.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1919-21 | 10 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 10 |
| Goals: | 6 | 0 | – | – | 6 |
Honours with Celtic
Glasgow Charity Cup
- 1920