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William Robert "Billy" Mckay (born 22 October 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for English club Wigan Athletic and the Northern Ireland national team.

Club career

Leicester City

Mckay started his career at Leicester City after being spotted as a youth by scout Bev Ironmonger. At a young age, he was brought into the academy, started to push for the first team and signed a new contract in 2008.
Hw was loaned, for a month, to Hinckley United of the Conference North, in 2008.
Despite impressing with a prolific goalscoring record at academy and reserve team level for Leicester, Mckay was released at the end of the 2008/09 season.

Northampton Town

Northampton Town gave Mckay a trial during 2009 pre-season, where he impressed by scoring two goals, including an overhead kick, against Coventry City. After this match he was awarded a one-year contract from manager, Stuart Gray. Mckay also claimed the honour of becoming the first Northampton Town player to score in the 'new' rivalry with Milton Keynes Dons. He netted in a 3–1 defeat at stadium:mk.
His first senior goal came during a 3–0 win over Accrington Stanley. After a couple of months coming on as a sub without scoring – often played out of position – Mckay scored the winner against Dagenham & Redbridge, in the 88th minute, during a 1–0 win on Boxing day. Four weeks later, on 26 January 2010, he scored and provided an assist for Ryan Gilligan, in a 2–1 win over Darlington. This was followed up by in February 2010 when he grabbed a 'brace' in a 4–0 win over Accrington Stanley.
In late April, Mckay signed a new deal that kept him at Northampton, after the club invoked a clause in his contract to keep him. Afterwards, Mckay was happy to confirm his delight at remaining at Northampton Town. At the conclusion of the season, Mckay had made a total of forty-three appearances, including cups, and scored eight goals.

At the beginning of the following season, 2010/11, Mckay revealed his desire to double his scoring tally from the previous campaign. He was given the number 16 shirt, with his previous number 17 jersey being taken by Michael Jacobs. After four games without scoring, Mckay netted his first league goal of the season in a 1–1 draw against Aldershot Town. He also found the target in a 2–0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the first round of the League Cup.

On 22 September 2010, Mckay scored Northampton Town's first goal in a memorable League Cup victory over Liverpool at Anfield. Just three days later, he scored again and provided an assist for Ben Tozer in a 2–0 win over Bradford City.
Mirroring the previous season, he then suffered a goalscoring 'drought'. However, this was broken when he scored in consecutive games against Lincoln City and Cheltenham Town.
At the season's end, Mckay had made a total of forty-one appearances, including cup competitions, with a return of eight goals. At the culmination of the season, he was offered a new contract, despite eight players leaving the club on free transfers. Two months later, Mckay left Northampton Town, with rumours circulating that he had agreed to join a new club.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

After leaving Northampton Town by mutual consent, Mckay signed with Scottish Premier League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle, along with Aaron Doran from Blackburn Rovers. Upon joining, his Inverness career got off to an unfortunate start after suffering an early injury.
He made his debut for the club on 27 August 2011, replacing Doran during the game, in a 2–1 win over Kilmarnock. However, Mckay's initial time at Inverness was mostly spent coming on as a sub – without scoring – and he was often played out of 'position'.
Eventually, on 10 December 2011, he scored his first goal for the club, a header against Dundee United in a 3–2 home defeat. After netting his first goal, Mckay stated that he expected to score plenty more goals for the club. Unfortunately, he continued to find himself being used as a substitute. Nevertheless, his patience was rewarded when in April 2012, he scored twice in a 4–3 loss against Kilmarnock.
At the end of the season, McKay signed a two-year contract, just as his current deal was set to expire. In his first season, he made twenty-four appearances, scoring three times.

The following season, 2012–13, proved to be a breakthrough for Mckay as he went on a goalscoring run and became a key player for the club. In the opening game of the season, he scored in a 2–2 draw against St. Mirren and shortly after, in the second round of the Scottish League Cup, he scored with a header during a 1–1 draw against Stenhousemuir – a game in which Inverness won on a penalty shoot-out.
A few weeks later, on 19 October 2012, Mckay scored twice in a 4–1 win over Dundee, and from 19 October to 10 November, he hit four goals in three games. Soon after, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over Celtic. After the match, Manager Terry Butcher claimed that the success was 'magnificent'.
In the Highland derby, fourth-round of the Scottish Cup, Inverness CT and Ross County required a replay to separate them, but Mckay grabbed the eventual winner in the replay.

At the end of November, he was awarded the SPL – Player of the Month, along with Butcher and Doran, who won the 'Manager of the Month' and 'Young Player of the Month' respectively. A week later, Mckay scored his first career hat-trick, in a 4–4 draw against Dundee United.

Between 24 November 2012 and 26 December 2012, he notched ten more goals (including the Scottish Cup) over seven consecutive games. This outstanding level of performance and goalscoring led to him speculatively being linked with English clubs. The transfer rumours led to Butcher offering him a new contract. The manager also stated that McKay was happy to remain at the club. Furthermore, Butcher claimed his striker was worth more than Celtic's Gary Hooper.

On 19 January 2013, Mckay grabbed his first goal of the calendar year and then scored again in a 3–0 win over Aberdeen. In March 2013, he ended any transfer speculation by signing a new two-year deal. Terry Butcher expressed his delight to the media at securing Mckay's future at Inverness. He 'celebrated' his contract extension soon after, in the Highland derby, by slotting home the winning goal from a penalty in a 2–1 win. He led the top-scorer charts for much of the season and had put himself in the running to win the 'Player of the Year' award. Had he done so, Mckay would have become the first man to win it (from a team other than Rangers or Celtic) since 1990, when Jim Bett claimed the award. Ultimately, however, Mckay wasn't included in the shortlist; instead, team-mate Andrew Shinnie was one of the four nominees.

Mckay started the 2013–14 Scottish Premiership season with a goal in each of Inverness CT's first three league games, and eventually five in the opening five fixtures. His impressive form continued with the only goal of the game away to Scottish Championship side Dundee in the League Cup, and a double in the 3–0 home victory against Hibernian. At that point, Mckay had a goal-a-game return with 9 goals from 9 matches.

Mckay's prolific start to the season was recognised with the award of SPFL – Player of the Month for September.
He finished the campaign with twenty-two goals from forty-six appearances.

With his contract due to expire at the end of the 2014/15 season, Inverness agreed to sell Mckay to Wigan Athletic in January 2015 for a deal in the region of £150,000.

Wigan Athletic

Mckay signed for Wigan Athletic in January 2015.

International career

Mckay was called up to the Northern Ireland national under-21 football team for the 2011 European Championship qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Iceland. He didn't play in the first match against the Czech Republic but started against Iceland in a 6–2 defeat. His first win playing for Northern Ireland came in a 3–0 success against San Marino.

Mckay was selected for the senior Northern Ireland squad in November 2012, and made his full international début in February 2013 in a friendly against Malta.

Honours

Personal

• SPL Player of the Month (1): November 2012
• SPFL Player of the Month (1): September 2013

Career statistics

As of 24 January 2015

References

1. "Billy McKay: Northern Ireland squad profile". Irish Football Association. IFA. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
2. "McKay signs on". lcfc.com. 17 June 2008. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2010. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 5 October 2011 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
3. "Former Leicester City man Lee Cox goes north of the border". This is Leicestershire. 13 June 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
4. "Sky Blues lift Jackson Grundy Cup". ntfc.co.uk. 21 July 2009. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2010. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 4 October 2011 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
5. "McKay puts pen to paper". ntfc.co.uk. 22 July 2009. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2010. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 17 February 2012 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
6. McKay's first senior goal BBC Sport. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
7. Northampton 1–0 Dag & Red BBC Sport. 2009-12-26. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
8. "Cobblers end two-month winless run". Northampton Chronicle. 26 December 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
9. "Billy McKay lands new Cobblers deal". Northampton Chronicle. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
10. "Cobblers striker McKay happy to stay in the shadows". Northampton Chronicle. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
11. "Northampton striker McKay aims to double goal tally". BBC Sport. 11 August 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
12. "Purcell to wear Cobblers No. 10 shirt". Northampton Chronicle. 28 March 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
13. "Reds crash out to League Two side". ESPN Soccernet. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
14. "Eight leave in Northampton Town exodus". BBC Sport. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
15. "Northampton Town release striker Billy McKay". BBC Sport. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
16. "Inverness set to confirm deals for Doran and McKay". BBC Sport. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
17. "Injury blow for Inverness CT as Owain Tudor Jones is ruled out for up to eight weeks". Daily Record. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
18. McKay's first Inverness goal BBC Sport. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2013
19. "Billy McKay wants goals to prove he can be strike star for Inverness". Daily Record. 24 December 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
20. "Inverness midfielder Billy McKay signs two-year extension at Tulloch stadium". Daily Record. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
21. "Inverness: Cup match-winner Billy Mckay eyes more goals". BBC Sport. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
22. "Celtic 0–1 Inverness CT". BBC Sport. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
23. "Inverness CT boss Terry Butcher says win over Celtic was "magnificent"". BBC Sport. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
24. ^ "Inverness CT sweep Clydesdale Bank SPL November awards". BBC Sport. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
25. "Dundee Utd 4–4 Inverness CT". BBC Sport. 15 December 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
26. "In-form Inverness star Billy McKay ignores interest from English clubs". Daily Record. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
27. "Inverness: Billy McKay 'happy at Caley Thistle', says Terry Butcher". BBC Sport. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
28. "Terry Butcher: Billy McKay is more valuable to Caley Thistle than Gary Hooper to Celtic". Daily Record. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
29. "Inverness CT 3–0 Aberdeen". BBC Sport. 19 January 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
30. "Terry Butcher 'delighted' as Billy McKay and Ross Draper sign new deals". Daily Record. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
31. "Inverness CT 2–1 Ross County". BBC Sport. 16 March 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
32. "Scottish football facing its most open Player of the Year contest for years". Daily Record. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
33. "Griffiths, Higdon, Shinnie & McGinn on SPFA shortlist". BBC Sport. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
34. ^ "Inverness striker Billy Mckay wins SPFL September award". BBC Sport. BBC. 19 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
35. "Wigan Athletic sign Jason Pearce and Billy Mckay". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
36. "McKay starts but Irish are beaten". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
37. San Marino U21 0–3 Northern Ireland U21 Irish FA 2 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
38. "McKay called up by Northern Ireland". Belfast Telegraph. INM. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
39. Malta 0–0 Northern Ireland BBC Sport. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013
40. Billy McKay at Soccerbase

1. Includes other competitive competitions, including the Football League Trophy.

External links

• Billy McKay at Soccerbase
• Profile at Irish FA

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from July 2013
• 1988 births
• Living people
• People from Corby
• Association footballers from Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland youth international footballers
• Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers
• Northern Ireland international footballers
• Association football forwards
• Leicester City F.C. players
• Hinckley United F.C. players
• Northampton Town F.C. players
• Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players
• Wigan Athletic F.C. players
• The Football League players
• Scottish Premier League players
• Scottish Professional Football League players