“I’m the manager here and I’ve got no other thought than how our team are going to play against Celtic at the weekend,” Ross County boss Malky Mackay says he is not distracted by bookmakers linking him with the vacant managerial job at Hibernian…
Mackay Mackay has been speaking to Sky Sports as the build-up to Sunday live broadcast from Dingwall gets underway. The Ross County manager is being linked with the vacant job at Hibs following the sacking of former Celtic star Shaun Maloney yesterday morning but is attempting to keep his focus firmly on the weekend visit from the side Mackay believes to the best team in Scotland on Sunday afternoon.
On the speculation that he’s about to be offered the Hibs job, Mackay was quick to dismiss that from his immediate thoughts to focus instead on playing title chasing Celtic.
15th December 2021; Victoria Park, Dingwall, Scotland, Scottish Premier league football, Ross County versus Celtic; Jack Baldwin of Ross County makes it 1-1 in the 57th minute
“It’s no distraction at all, to be honest with you. I’ve been involved in management for the last 15 years or so and having been linked various times with various things and seeing other managers liked, you kind of realise how these situations work,” Mackay said.
“Your only focus is to get on with your own job. I’ve got a tough enough job here at the moment trying to make sure that ourselves and everyone at the football club finish as highly and strongly as possible, really for the fans, more than anything else to give them the chance to possibly play in Europe.
“So my only focus and drive and the respect that I have for our owner is the fact that I am the manager here and I have got no other thought than how my team are going to try to play against Celtic at the weekend,” Malky Mackay told Sky Sports this afternoon.
The former Celtic defender also talked about making the top six with Ross County and the mini-league within that between his side, Motherwell and Dundee Utd who will be fighting among themselves to get the final European spot. On Sunday’s game against Celtic Mackay said:
“We’re playing the top team in the country right now, the league leaders. We played them a month ago and they were absolutely on fire. We had ten men and we did okay considering the result they had the following week against St Johnstone (7-0) so we are playing against a really good team, a team who are now out of the Scottish Cup and their focus will now be on winning the league.
The papers reported on the 1-1 draw, this was flashed in the big screens at Ibrox here they celebrated wildly but the game wasn’t over and Tony Ralston had the last laugh…
15th December 2021; Victoria Park, Dingwall, Scotland, Scottish Premier league football, Ross County versus Celtic; Anthony Ralston of Celtic heads the winner for Celtic in the 97th minute making it 2-1 to Celtic
15th December 2021; Victoria Park, Dingwall, Scotland, Scottish Premier league football, Ross County versus Celtic; Anthony Ralston of Celtic celebrates after he heads the winner for Celtic in the 97th minute making it 2-1 to Celtic
“I know that Ange is going to bring a team here that is going to test us to the limit but the last time up here was a helluva game and it went to the 97th minute but I’m too well aware of the strengths of Celtic and the fact that we have got to go into this game with everything we’ve got. It will be a great day, it’s a full house here and there is a lot riding on the game for both teams,” Mackay concluded.
