The downfall of the once mighty Barrie McKay

After five months without a club Barrie McKay has signed a short term deal with Hamilton Accies.

At the age of 31 McKay is on the final descent of his career, last season he made seven appearances totalling 286 minutes as Livingston were relegated from the SPFL Premiership.

In season 24/24 he played 242 minutes in the SPFL Premiership before being released by Hearts.

Back in the day McKay was the brightest starlet at Murray Park. He played in Sevco’s first ever match, a 2-1 win over Brechin City in the Challenge Cup.

From John Fleck to Alex Lowry any teenager emerging from Murray Park gets the future superstar treatment.

THE HYPE AND FALL OF BARRIE MCKAY

Under Mark Warburton in the SPFL Premiership McKay was the brightest star. Outshining Joey Barton, Nicky Kranjcar, Kenny Miller and the other duds assembled by Warbo.

The hype, based on a shot past the post in a 5-1 defeat from Celtic, was incredible.

Soon after Oli Burke joined RB Leipzig Keith Jackson broke the news of a £6m offer to take McKay to the Bundesliga side.

It never quite happened.

Not to be outdone Jackson’s then Record colleague Jonny McFarlane took things a few steps further.

That sort of judgement earned McFarlane the job of Head of Digital Sport at Newsquest in 2021. He now steers sport at The Herald, Glasgow Times, National, Celtic Way and Rangers Review.

Journalist Jonny McFarlane sparked a long-running Scottish football debate in January 2017 when he posted that Celtic’s Kieran Tierney was a decent player, but Rangers winger Barrie McKay was Scotland’s most gifted talent.[1, 2]

The controversial take has been repeatedly mocked, revisited, and defended by fans and media pundits over the years as Tierney moved to Arsenal and returned to Celtic, while McKay played for clubs including Nottingham Forest, Swansea City, and Heart of Midlothian. McFarlane has periodically doubled down on or faced backlash for the comparison during subsequent football discussions.

With that taste of fame McFarlane has tried to maintain those standards.

Apparently James Tavernier was the best and most successful footballer of his time while wearing the cherished captain’s armband at Ibrox.

While Tierney hoovered up domestic honours and earned a £25m transfer to Arsenal it was downhill all the way for McKay.

Spells at Nottingham Forest, Swansea City and Fleetwood Town resulted in the former Ibrox star picking up a certificate in hairdressing.

Now at Hamilton he will be hoping to earn a contract running through till the end of the season. Hopefully the former wonder-boy has now found his level.