THERE has, not surprisingly in these hysterical times, been no shortage of people lining up to express their outrage and indignation at the SFA making Malky Mackay their new performance director.

Yet, neither has there been a dearth of those who have praised the governing body for appointing the former Watford and Cardiff City manager to the high-profile and hugely important role either. Quite the opposite in fact.

Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, and Mark Warburton, his Rangers counterpart, both worked with Mackay during their time together at Watford and are confident he will, despite the baggage that he unquestionably brings with him to the position, do well.

Read more: Malky Mackay confident he will be cleared of wrongdoing by investigation into his Cardiff City transfer dealings

Elsewhere, Derek McInnes at Aberdeen, who completed his coaching certificates alongside the former defender, echoed their sentiments along with a raft of others who are involved in the game both north and south of the border.

There is no doubt that Mackay has endured a traumatic time since being sacked by Cardiff, who he had lead into the Premier League in England and to their first-ever League Cup final, over three years ago.

His once-impeccable reputation has been tarnished by revelations that he sent text messages and emails which were "disrespectful to other cultures" during his three seasons with the Bluebirds.

However, the 44-year-old yesterday revealed the pain he has experienced has been eased considerably by the backing, both private and public, he has received.

“There are a lot of good people in football and a lot of good people in my life,” he said. “People have been very good to me and strong friends. The messages I am getting today are humbling. It humbles you a lot.

Read more: Malky Mackay confident he will be cleared of wrongdoing by investigation into his Cardiff City transfer dealings

“I am who I am and the people who know me know what I am from my career in football and the clubs I’ve been at. People who know me now see the same people they knew when I was a wee boy at Queens Park.

“I worked with Brendan and I worked with Mark. Derek is somebody else I know because we did our pro-licence together. I am proud of the fact that good people in football who knew me then and know me now still want to phone me and still want to talk to me. That’s a measure of the person you actually are.”

Despite the emphatic support he has been given by his many friends and wellwishers throughout his ordeal, Mackay appreciates that his comments during his spell at Cardiff were, irrespective of how they entered the public domain, wrong.

It has been well documented that he has undergone diversity and equality training since the controversy that dominated the front page and back page headlines in newspapers in both England and Scotland broke and which has forced him out of a game he had been involved with continually as either a player or a coach for 25 years.

He is hopeful, though, the job of performance director will be another major step forward in his rehabilitation and that he can, in time, be better known as the individual who helped to resurrect the ailing fortunes of our national game.

“You need to look at yourself,” he said. “You need to think hard about how you can keep learning from different situations.’

“I’m going to get some stick, that’s life, these things happen. But it’s about having a belief in yourself and a belief that what you are doing is for the greater good of the player and that’s what I’m being allowed to do.

“From day one, I was honest. I sat down to talk to the board who were in front of me and I gave them my thoughts on the way forward, my vision for Scottish football going forward, my thoughts on my background, my history, my CV. It’s then for other people to do deal with, whether they want to actually hire me or not.

“I’m not coming into the job not to be successful. I’m coming into the job to help Scottish football and help us qualify for a World Cup and for a European Championship."

Mackay’s suitability for performance director has been questioned due to the perception that he has only worked as a player and a manager. He enjoyed, however, great success in aiding the development of young players at both Watford and Cardiff City.

He has already identified the lack of youngsters forcing their way into the first team at our leading clubs as a major problem which needs to be addressed and believes he has the practical experience which can help him solve what is a huge issue.

“I know the pathway to get a kid into the first team, to get them playing against men,” he said. “The problem we have got at the moment is that our 19 to 21-year-olds hit a glass ceiling. We have got to get our elite boys in.

Read more: Malky Mackay confident he will be cleared of wrongdoing by investigation into his Cardiff City transfer dealings

“We need to make sure that the loan system is as flexible as it can be under law. I had played 100 games for Queen’s Park by the time I was 21. I had a big guy trying to break my nose every week. I wasn’t laughing about that. But that makes me change, that makes me a man, that makes me adapt to professional football.

“We have got to make sure we can try and smash that ceiling and get our best young players with our best coaches and give them the best chance to get into first teams because that gets them out there playing for Scotland at Hampden."

Mackay added: “One of the things that we were able to do at Watford, where I didn’t have any money, but where I had contacts in the game, was borrow players. So four or five of the England players just now, Danny Drinkwater, Danny Rose, Andros Townsend and Tom Cleverley, were with me at Watford. We were a stepping stone in their careers.

“I hope that at some point we will see a variety of Oliver Burkes; players who are quick, tall, strong, playing in the top five leagues in Europe."