WHEN it first became apparent that Dominic McKay might just be interested in succeeding Peter Lawwell as Celtic chief executive, there were many in Scottish rugby who saw the hypothetical move as over-ambitious. Several years on, however, there is a growing consensus that an increasingly impressive track record makes the 42-year-old the right person for the job.
Of course there are no guarantees of success, and it would be easy to point to several aspects of McKay’s personality and professional career that could leave him at a disadvantage when he moves from Murrayfield to Celtic Park this summer. For one thing, he lacks Lawwell’s political heft. For another, he has no experience of negotiating the various rancorous relationships which predominate within Scottish football.
But writing him off as a lightweight would be a mistake. Not only is he in fact a quick learner and an intelligent operator, some of his perceived shortcomings should be readily turned to his advantage.
When McKay takes over at Celtic, the club will almost certainly have failed in its attempt to win a coveted tenth league title in a row. Relative to the glories of recent seasons, it will be at a low ebb, and in need of new, unjaundiced blood on and off the field. Fresh ideas and enthusiasm will be required, and the SRU’s current chief operating officer has both in abundance.
In other words, there is a time when new insight is needed, and for Celtic that time is now. Inexperience has its disadvantages, but so does the accumulation of encrusted enmities which often arises from being too long in office.
An accomplished diplomat, McKay once said his motto was “make a new friend every day”, and he is as at ease having a chat with supporters after a game as he is sitting round a table with other administrators. Perhaps more importantly than that sociability, however, he is adept at not making enemies - a negative characteristic, true, but a vital one when dealing with the upper echelons of national government.
His behaviour during the pandemic provides the perfect example. As the head of the SRU’s Threat Management Group for dealing with the pandemic, he has kept up an excellent working relationship with both Nicola Sturgeon and Jason Leitch. Back in August, for example, he secured their agreement for Murrayfield to be used as a test venue for the return of fans, while last month he played a leading role in securing £20million of emergency funding for the sport - £15m as grants, the other £5m in loans.
For whatever reason, Lawwell has not had such harmonious recent dealings with the First Minister and the national clinical director, with his club’s trip to Dubai being a particular bone of contention. And when it comes to that emergency funding package, many in Scottish football feel that the national sport fared less well by comparison with rugby - of its £30m total, the £20m of that which went to the Premiership was only a loan.
McKay, who is a keen sailor as well as a rugby enthusiast, had a fairly modest start to his 13 years in the SRU, which he joined from Pernod Ricard as director of communications and public affairs. His remit was widened in 2011 as the first external sign of his increasing value to the governing body, and he joined the board as an executive director in 2013. He made his real breakthrough in 2014 when he played a major role in securing BT as a long-term sponsor, and he was given the title of chief operating officer the following year.
READ MORE: Peter Lawwell: The man who rebuilt Celtic or the one who threw away the Ten?
As chairman of the PRO14 he has overseen the league’s expansion into South Africa, and he was also instrumental in bringing the 2019 PRO14 final to Celtic Park - something which proved his ability to strike deals across sporting and national boundaries. Within Murrayfield, his suave, unruffled approach to negotiations has been an extremely useful foil to the often brusque and abrasive behaviour of chief executive Mark Dodson.
McKay’s business background makes him a far from obvious choice to take over at Celtic. But the more you scrutinise his track record, the more it looks like he could be a major benefit to Celtic and indeed to Scottish football as a whole.
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