Prolific Aberdeen goalscorer who earned the nickname Cup-tie McKay DEREK McKay, who has died of a suspected heart attack aged 59, was the Aberdeen striker whose two goals at Hampden in 1970 won the Scottish Cup for the Dons.
His feat with the Pittodrie side still remains an abiding chapter in the 105-year history of the club.
Until he scored for Aberdeen in both the quarter-final and semi-final of the Scottish Cup nearly 40 years ago, McKay was held to be talented but not outstanding. He firmly changed that by netting twice when Aberdeen beat Celtic in the final at Hampden in front of a 108,000 crowd.
Plucked from the bench after a flu epidemic devastated the team, his heroics earned him the nickname "Cup-tie McKay".
Raised in the Banffshire fishing town of Macduff, football-daft McKay made his Highland League debut with Deveronvale at 15, signing the following year for Dundee. He played with that club's first team at 17, becoming involved with 15 games during his first season at Dens Park. His talent came to the notice of Dons manager Eddie Turnbull during an Aberdeen-Dundee match, and he signed for the Granite City in 1969.
Despite his Hampden heroics, those Scottish Cup goals proved to be the only ones he would ever score for the Dons, for a bitter row with Turnbull over money left him sitting in the stand the following season, and eventually frozen out at Pittodrie.
At the time, McKay earned £40 a week, with £5 appearance money. An away win brought a £30 bonus, with £20 for a home victory. Going into the Scottish Cup final, Aberdeen were the underdogs against the rampant Celtic, then bidding for a clean sweep of Scottish honours and already heading to their second European Cup final.
The fact that the Dons beat Celtic 2-1 in the league at Parkhead 10 days before the final boosted player confidence, with the final simply a matter of an early penalty by Joe Harper followed by McKay's double.
The victorious Dons players received a £250 bonus each, only for McKay to hear from Celtic's Bobby Lennox that each member of Celtic had been given £500 each for losing. Years later, McKay recalled: "I couldn't believe it. Celtic were the best team in the world at that time but we had the beating of them.
"Martin Buchan was our skipper but he was only 21 and didn't want to get involved, so I went in with Joe Harper to see the board and Eddie Turnbull to say we weren't going to accept that. I did all the talking and Joe backed me up. The board weren't very happy and they reluctantly agreed to give us £500 each as well but I think that was the final straw for Eddie Turnbull with me."
The cup bonus dispute saw him sidelined the following season, with the manager refusing to let him go until Crystal Palace ended his nightmare. He later moved first to Barrow before going abroad to play in Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa. He eventually settled in Australia three decades ago, working quietly in the mailroom of Perth Royal Hospital.
Always passionate about the game, McKay kept in touch with football and footballing colleagues, frequently airing trenchant views about standards then and now. He once insisted: "If I were playing today I would probably be a millionaire. Back then, I was earning five times the average working man's wage but run-of-the mill players these days are getting 100 times that, which is just ridiculous."
McKay also believed that there was little comparison between his cup-winning team and today's Dons side. "We were far better - far more skilful, never gave the ball away and always found our man with a pass. Today's players are fit but their skills are far poorer and a lot lower than ours ever were."
His only real regret was to give up playing at 33, though right to the end, he followed the result of every Aberdeen match and kept in touch with old team-mates. When he returned to Aberdeen in 2005 for a reunion of the 1970 Cup-winning team, he and Turnbull made it up. Despite his famous goals against Celtic, he proved a regular at the West Australian Celtic Supporters Club in Perth to watch SPL games.
McKay was twice divorced, and died in his sleep while on holiday in Thailand.
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