The Bizarre Appointment of Malky Mackay Leaves Scottish Fans With Difficult Decisions

Malky Mackay is a fortunate man. He might have displayed a broad range of prejudices when sending his infamous messages – racism, homophobia, anti-semitism and sexism – but he stopped short of adding in sectarianism to complete the royal flush of bigotry. As such, he has now secured a return to football as the Scottish FA's Performance Director.

When digesting this news, spare a thought for Hugh Dallas. The former Scottish referee was soon kicked out of his SFA job after he did something similar, sharing an off-colour remark about a Papal visit. It's long been impossible to imagine anybody who holds vaguely sectarian views in Scotland ever working within the game again, but Mackay's appointment clearly suggests that some bigotries are more serious than others. In short, participating in the ultimately meaningless pantomime of Scottish sectarianism is forbidden; literally anything else – racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-semitism, or in this case all four – is fine.

You might have expected there to be some uproar after this, although it's certainly not coming from the people who are actually positioned for the purpose. In fact, the most laughable defence, narrowly beating Mark Warburton's insistence that Mackay is "a first-class football man", was a feeble statement from Show Racism the Red Card.

It would seem that racism has had its red card rescinded, because, according to the group: "After admitting to sending text messages that were very regrettable and disrespectful to other cultures Malky Mackay underwent equality and diversity training through an education programme with the FA and we wish him well in his new role at the SFA."

Incredibly, that's it. No more. "Regrettable and disrespectful to other cultures." And other sexes, sexualities, and races, but let's not split hairs. Instead, let's examine that redemption. Here's Mackay's 'apology.' It's long, so we'll just use some relevant excerpts:

"Obviously the texts are things that I have to deal with and explain. Out of 10,000 text messages in and out of someone's phone I have sent three and that being the case – looking at them – they are completely unacceptable, inappropriate. For that and for any offence I have caused I sincerely apologise. There is no excuse.

"I did it in a period where I think I was under immense pressure and stress in terms of the relationships that were possibly not going too well at the football club. But that doesn't excuse anything.

"I'm a manager, a leader of people and it should not have happened. But before all that I'm a human being and I made a mistake.

"I'd humbly ask people to ask themselves the question, if their own phone was taken and every private text was scrutinised there would certainly be an amount of embarrassing texts there for everyone.

"I've been in a multi-cultural football environment for 20 years. I love British football and I'm no racist, I'm no sexist, I'm no homophobe and I'm not anti-Semitic."

Question: You say three texts. There were more than three mentioned in the newspaper. Are you saying you didn't send them all?

"Mackay: Well, it was someone else's phone that a vast array of texts, over 10,000, were lifted from.

Question: So you're saying you received some of these texts?

"Mackay: I've received some but the three I sent are the three I'm accountable for."

That's his apology – saying there's no excuse, then immediately making an excuse, bragging about his stature in the game, suggesting it's something we all do, then making the old 'I've worked with black people' argument. Groundbreaking stuff.

So, the first question: how is it possible for Mackay to be reformed if he did not believe himself to be a bigot in the first place? Secondly, how can it be an apology when he effectively refuses to say what it was he actually did? Has a clearer "I'm sorry I got caught" apology ever been written?

That Mackay has, in some way, served his punishment and should not be hounded for the rest of his life is a legitimate opinion. He is not, however, guaranteed to be able to continue working in football, let alone to oversee youth football in a role where judgement is probably the most important qualification for the job.

I see only one real solution to this, and it's the one that football fans often find so hard – a boycott. The debate about the Scottish game and a need for a complete overhaul has been tediously burning away like a peat fire for a long time. Mackay, an average manager, is not going to be the answer to it. English football excused racism from John Terry and Luis Suarez, two world-class footballers. Scottish football is prepared to die on the considerably smaller hills of Aleksandar Tonev and Malky Mackay – and this in a country where fans can and do get sent to jail for singing songs.

So, for the sake of this incredible mediocrity, a boycott is probably more viable than ever, particularly with the huge dissatisfaction with the team and manager that already exists. I'd advocate that not only until Mackay is gone, but the idiots who thought it'd be a good idea to appoint him in the first place, too. Any regular followers of the Scottish national team will have cheered outstanding moments from Ikechi Anya, prayed Karamoko Dembele opts to play international football north of the border, and hoped to see more of Matt Phillips. Now, their superior is a man who has previously mused: "aren't many white faces there."

If there's any good to come from this, it's that it might be the final straw that reveals just how idiotic the people running the game are and finally sees them off. Mackay is such a moronic appointment, such an obviously terrible human being, that any protest against him would find it virtually impossible not to succeed. The cause could hardly be more just – it just needs a few people prepared to take it up.

@Callum_TH