Brendan Rodgers backs Malky Mackay as performance director

Former Celtic and Scotland defender Mackay is among a number of applicants currently being considered for the job which has been vacant since Brian McClair resigned in July. The 44-year-old has been out of work since being sacked as Wigan Athletic manager in April 2015, having previously been dismissed by Cardiff City and then been implicated in a controversy over the sending of inappropriate text messages. But Celtic manager Rodgers believes Mackay would be the ideal man to lead the SFA’s strategy for improving standards in the game. “Obviously the last two or three years have been difficult for Malky but in terms of skills set and qualities for the job, I’m not sure there is anyone better,” said Rodgers. “When I got my first manager’s job at Watford, Malky was in for it as well. I was working at Chelsea at the time and was offered it. Most people thought he would then be moved on but I’d done my homework on him and knew he was a good man and was keen to learn. “He’d not that long stopped playing so I kept him at Watford and in my short period of time there he was a very loyal assistant for me. “When I was Swansea manager, I was asked about him being Cardiff manager and I spoke well of him there as well in terms of what I thought he could do for Cardiff. “I don’t know exactly what the role is at the SFA but I assume you have to provide a vision, because that’s a mark of how the country will move forward. There has to be that in terms of how the players are going to be asked to be developed. “Can you get kids here as early as you can, develop them towards being a top-class footballer? Can you provide education, diet and nutrition, which is vitally important up here. Get them thinking professionally, get more hours into them technically and tactically. Have a way of working that allows them to develop, not just smash a ball up a pitch. “I would assume the role is going to be about that vision. I’m sure there are lots of good candidates but I’m sure Malky, with his experience, would be one of the ones they look to.”