William Robert Mckay (born 22 October 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish League One club Inverness Caledonian Thistle where he is also Assistant Head Coach.
Mckay began his career with Leicester City, but was unable to break into the first team, spending some time on loan with Hinckley United.
Released by Leicester in 2009, Mckay played for Northampton Town before joining Inverness Caledonian Thistle in Scotland in 2011.
He did not hold a regular place with Wigan, and was loaned to Dundee United, Oldham Athletic and Inverness over the next two seasons.
[6] Despite impressing with a prolific goalscoring record at academy and reserve team level for Leicester, Mckay was released at the end of the 2008–09 season.
Northampton Town gave Mckay a trial during 2009 pre-season, where he impressed by scoring two goals, including an overhead kick, against Coventry City.
[14] At the conclusion of the season, Mckay had made a total of forty-three appearances, including cups, and scored eight goals.
On 22 September 2010, Mckay scored Northampton Town's first goal in a memorable League Cup victory over Liverpool at Anfield.
At the season's end, Mckay had made a total of forty-one appearances, including cup competitions, with a return of eight goals.
[19] After leaving Northampton Town by mutual consent, Mckay signed for Scottish Premier League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle, along with Aaron Doran from Blackburn Rovers.
[37] By the start of the 2013–14 season, Mckay was linked with a move to Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad following their £375k bid rejected by Inverness CT.[38] Mckay started the 2013–14 season with a goal in each of Inverness CT's first three league games, and eventually five in the opening five fixtures, including a double in a 2–0 win over Hearts.
[39] His impressive form continued with the only goal of the game away to Scottish Championship side Dundee in the League Cup,[40] and a double in the 3–0 home victory against Hibernian.
[44] In the Scottish League Cup final against Aberdeen, Mckay played the whole 90 minutes plus extra time before the game eventually reached a penalty shoot-out.
[47] Six days after the Scottish League Cup Final, Mckay bounced back when he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Partick Thistle.
[57] With his contract due to expire at the end of the 2014–15 season, Inverness agreed to sell Mckay to Wigan Athletic in January 2015 for a deal in the region of £150,000.
[60] Mckay made his Wigan Athletic debut the next day, when he came on as a substitute for Martyn Waghorn in the 78th minute, in a 0–0 draw against Ipswich Town.
[62] Ahead of the 2015–16 season Mckay was once again in the transfer spotlight when he was linked with a move back to the Scottish Premiership, with Dundee United making a bid for him.
[63] The Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara then said that Wigan had rejected two bids his club had made for Mckay.
[64] These bids were rejected despite it appearing likely that Mckay's first team opportunities would be limited following the arrivals of Will Grigg and Craig Davies.
[67] He signed for Dundee United the following day, but on a season-long loan deal rather than a permanent contract having reportedly failed to negotiate a severance agreement with Wigan.
[73] He scored a spectacular overhead kick to give Caley the win over Rangers on 24 February 2017, ending their winless streak that stood 15 matches, which started in October 2016.
[80] Mckay was called up to the Northern Ireland national under-21 football team for the 2011 European Championship qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Iceland.
[82] Mckay was selected for the senior Northern Ireland squad in November 2012,[83] and made his full international début in February 2013 in a friendly against Malta.