Caley Thistle record goalscorer set to play his 300th match for club
BILLY Mckay thought he would only be at Inverness Caledonian Thistle for a year when he first joined 13 years ago.
Yet he has ended up spending 11 years of his football career in the Highlands, between Inverness and Ross County.
Now he is set to make his 300th appearance for Inverness when he is expected to start against Montrose in League One.
Mckay (35) says he when he first arrived from Northampton Town in 2011, he never thought Inverness would have played a major part in his career.
He said: "It feels special. When I joined the club the first time, I never thought I'd have as many appearances.
"I thought I'd be up here for a year and go back down south.
"I have been back to the club three times now, so it's really special to reach 300 appearances for this club.
"After my first five or six months here, Terry Butcher was looking to get rid of me.
"I managed to change his mind and signed a new contract. I never looked back.
"This is the club where I've had my best football and my best scoring seasons. When I became an international player, I was here.
"It has been a special place for me. I've had a couple of disappointments, but I have had some great times as well.
"I just want to see this club get back to its best. I want to help as much as I can.”
Mackay is the record goalscorer at the club, finding the net 112 times during his two stints at the club.
He stayed for four years in his first period at the club, before heading to Wigan Athletic 2015. He spent time on loan at Dundee United, Oldham Athletic and Caley Thistle during that time.
He also played for Ross County for four years between 2017 and 2021 before returning to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Mckay is one of the few veterans in the Inverness squad, which features predominantly young players as they look to compete for promotion from League One this season.
He says while results could be better for Inverness, he says the potential is in the squad for them to achieve their objective of getting back to the Championship.
“"It's a challenge I've got to rise to. I played with a lot of older players when I was younger, and they helped me through it. That's my job now.
"I've obviously still got to perform myself, but I will try to help these lads as much as possible.
"They're doing great overall. We know we can be doing better as a team, and I believe we will get there. A lot of these lads will come through and really show how good they are.”
Mckay says it was disappointing that the club were relegated last season to League One and the financial trouble it finds itself in.
However, he says the players are fully focussed on trying to improve results on the pitch.
He said: "It was disappointing, but we know where we are now.
"There is a lot of stuff going on at the club, but we need to focus on the pitch and try to get results.
"Everything always looks better when you're winning. we need to try to start winning and everything else can take care of itself.
"I am convinced that we've got enough here to challenge for promotion.
"Confidence and momentum play a big part in football.
"We have to get that back and play with a real swagger about us. We must go on to that pitch believing we're going to win and start getting those wins. If we do that, I believe we will kick on and make a real challenge of it.”
McKay says he has coaching aspirations after his playing career has finished and has enjoyed training the youth teams at the club.
He said: "I've been helping out the under-18s and I've been enjoying it.
"I coached the under-16s last year, so from natural progression I have moved up a level.
"I'm loving helping the younger lads. They are not too far away from the first-team now, with everything going on, so they have always got the chance and that's my message. Just try your best and you can be in the first-team soon.”
