Steven Mackay believes his decision to resign as Brora Rangers manager is the right one to allow the club to progress.
The 40-year-old stood down as Cattachs boss following Saturday’s 6-2 Breedon Highland League loss to Fraserburgh.
Since taking charge at Dudgeon Park in May 2018, Mackay has helped the Sutherland side win the Highland League title during the Covid-19 disrupted 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons and the North of Scotland Cup in the 2019-20 campaign.
One of the main factors in Mackay’s decision was not being able to commit enough time to Brora as a result of his work as an operations director for a fabrication company, which sees him work in the central belt Sunday to Thursday.
‘Brora is not getting everything I can give’
He said: “From the outside people might be fairly surprised and think it was a knee-jerk reaction to the result on Saturday.
“But it’s been an accumulation of pretty mediocre performances from us since we beat Hearts.
“I’ve felt there’s been a little bit of an underlying issue with complacency in the squad and ultimately I have to take responsibility for that.
“Saturday hit home how far away we actually are – the gulf between the two teams was quite staggering.
“Not in terms of ability, but the fundamentals and basics of work-rate, application and desire to go and compete.
“That was a shock to see that and I thought for that to be resolved it was going to take a lot of work and a lot of time.
“The way my lifestyle is with working away most of the week, Brora is not getting everything I can give.
“The easy decision would have been to put it down as a bad day at the office and move on.
“But deep down I know that wasn’t just a bad day at the office, it’s been coming.
“If I’d continued in the role and only been able to give half my time to Brora then it could get worse.
“We could have got to Christmas and been way off the pace and with no chance of winning the league.
“By making the tough decision I’ve made, it gives the club a chance to still be successful.
“It was a hard decision to make and I’m not totally comfortable with it, but I do think it’s the right one in order for the club to progress.”
Not the way Mackay wanted it to end
As player and manager, Mackay has spent 10 years with Brora. As a player, he won the Highland League title twice, the Highland League Cup and the North of Scotland Cup four times.
Reflecting on his time at Dudgeon Park as manager, he added: “It’s not how I wanted it to unfold. Yes we won the league, but we haven’t won the league properly.
“The season (2019-20) was impacted by Covid and, although we only had five games left, ideally I would have liked to have won the league over 34 games in the proper manner.
“There’s a regret that I wasn’t able to do that and there’s regret at the way it’s ended.
“It’s not ideal, but I’ve been at Brora 10 years and as a player it was the best years of my career and as a manager I’ve learned so much.”
Chairman saddened by resignation
Mackay’s assistant manager Craig Campbell is now in temporary charge with Brora facing Aberdeen B in the SPFL Trust Trophy on Tuesday night.
Following that game, the club will be seeking applications for the position of manager.
Cattachs chairman William Powrie said: “I’m deeply sorry that Steven’s resigned. He was a great ambassador for the club and a very good young manager and he will certainly be a loss to us.
“It wasn’t expected and I can categorically say it wasn’t something that was driven by the club, it was Steven’s decision.
“He’s been a great servant to the club both as a player and a manager, but he felt he’d taken the club as far as he could.”
