‘This would be my last chance’: Ex-Caley Thistle winger Daniel Mackay considered retirement after two years of injury hell but is back fit and ready to play

Former Caley Thistle winger Daniel Mackay almost quit football after his latest injury – but he’s back and determined to create more magical moments.

The 25-year-old ICT academy graduate has been released by Championship runners-up Partick Thistle, a club he played for just three times, with his last competitive match being nearly two years ago.

His last game for his hometown club ICT was when he was on loan from Hibernian – scoring in the 3-1 defeat against Ange Postecoglou’s treble winners in the 2023 Scottish Cup final.

Mackay, who scored 17 goals in 97 Caley Thistle appearances, also netted in that season’s 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final victory against Falkirk. 

The Inverness-born attacker joined Hibs in the summer of 2021 and scored in the Europa Conference League on his second appearance.

He played just seven times for the Leith club but as well as enjoying his loan stint back north, he helped Kilmarnock when he was on loan at Rugby Park in 2022.

In 2023-2024, a loan period at Livingston gave him a Premiership platform for a while and he moved to Partick in June 2024.

A catalogue of injuries halted the former Scotland under-21 starlet’s career before it truly began at Firhill. The latest one last November had him on the cusp of hanging up the boots.

His big decision was to turn to body movement specialist, or biomechanist, Dan Mitten.

‘I am fit and ready to go this summer, wherever that may be’

Speaking exclusively to The Press and Journal, he explained how the issues developed while at Thistle.

He said: “The last competitive game I played was for Partick Thistle against Motherwell in July 2024, so it has been nearly two years. It has been a long time and very hard going.

“The first problem was the day before the first league game against Morton almost two years ago.

“My knee fully locked in training and was basically in a 90-degree angle for four days. I had emergency surgery (on the meniscus) and got that repaired. It was better for me long-term but it meant I would be out for longer.

“There were complications afterwards. My leg didn’t fully straighten after the op, so I had to get it fully straightened three weeks in, which was agony, and it delayed the process.

“Since coming back, I injured my thigh three times and my hamstring twice, so it has not been easy and the body has taken its toll.

“The physio at Partick has been brilliant with me. I have not been easy to deal with over the last two years.

“Dan Mitten, who is a biomechanist I have been working with in England, has been superb. He has changed everything about me as a player and a person and (about the) way I move.

“It has taken all these setbacks to get me to where I am today. I am fit and ready to go this summer, wherever that may be.

‘This would be my last chance’

“My missus, Lucy, has been massive for me. I told her I didn’t know if I could keep doing this and she said I should try something different and see if that works.

“If that didn’t work, she said she would support me and the physio, Rob (Dicke), said the same.

“We tried everything and we decided to speak to Dan, who people had worked with at Partick and I knew people had done so out with Thistle.

“This would be my last chance. He has helped so much, just things like taking some load off the muscles which have all been on the injured side.

“November was the turning point. I could easily have left football at that point.

“I had followed Dan’s work for a long time. He has strong views on how your body should move and why top athletes move the way they do, and why they are never injured.

“(Man United’s) Bruno Fernandes, for example, plays 60 to 70 games a season. Dan posts how they are moving and why they never miss games.

“Oisin Smyth and Dan O’Reilly at Partick said Dan was top class, so I decided to give it a go.”

Blocking out the online ‘hate’

Mackay explained that getting unfairly criticised online while injured only made matters worse as he mentally had to block out any “hate”.

He said: “Dan has given me a new lease of life and given me a fresh perspective after my injury in November playing in Steven Lawless’ testimonial.

“I got a bit of backlash online but people wouldn’t have known that in my mind it could have been the end of my career. I have managed to come out of it stronger, which is the most important thing.

“People don’t know the full story, which didn’t help. People make their own assumptions and there’s a bit of hate.

“Some things are quite funny, but when it gets personal that’s when it crosses the line.

“I’ve got a pretty thick skin. I have been through a lot, but when people question your work ethic when people don’t know what I’ve been through over the past two years then it is difficult.

“But I have come through the other side and I am a lot stronger. I never wanted to leave Partick in that way, having not played much, but that’s football unfortunately.”

‘I would be seen as a huge risk, but I have been fit for the last two months’

Mackay hopes to be given a shot at a club, even just on trial, in the coming weeks, especially when he’s been fit and ready since April.

He added: “I have the ‘injury prone’ tag, which I fully get, given what’s happened to me.

“I would be seen as a huge risk to any club, but I have been fit for the last two months.

“It’s hard to say that to clubs when I’ve not been involved in squads or played.

“It’s important people know I have been fit for two months.

“Towards the end of the season, it was about me getting myself ready for the next challenge.

“Most teams will be back in a week or two, so something might come up, or I might be asked to train somewhere.

“I do still exist and I still have plenty to give to the game. Wherever it may be, I will make the most of it.

“The next move for me will be massive and hopefully I will really kick on in my career.”

‘Plenty of big moments left in me’

The winger has always been popular with ICT fans and he said that feeling is forever mutual.

He said: “I used to joke with boys like Deasy (Robbie Deas) and boys I was close with at Inverness that I would always have moments in big games.

“When I was younger, I always wanted to be the one to score the winner or make an impact. That’s what people remember.

“There are still plenty of big moments left in me.

“Inverness always has a special place in my heart, having been there throughout my life, and my family still live there and my girlfriend is from there.”

Mackay willing to help footballers

Mackay signed off the interview with a word for any footballers who might be going through similar tough times like he has.

He said: “If anyone else in football is struggling, I am always here. They can always message me.

“Footballers get forgotten about very quickly. Life moves on. I’m always free for a message.”

[Source: Press and Journal]