Inverness Caley Thistle striker says Thursday was the toughest moment of his career after club had plunged into administration
Billy Mckay is proud to have been appointed as a coach at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but it is not under the circumstances he would ever have wished for.
The 36-year-old striker has been appointed as a coach to work with new head coach Scott Kellacher as the club will battle to get off bottom spot in League One following a 15 point deduction after going into administration last week.
Kellacher and Mckay’s appointments came as administrators BDO made former manager Duncan Ferguson, along with ex-assistant manager Gary Bollan and goalkeeper coach Stuart Garden redundant on Wednesday.
Goalkeeper Jack Newman saw his loan deal terminated as he returned to Dundee United.
Mckay said waiting to hear if he was still employed by the club last week was one of the worst moments he has experienced in his football career.
He said: “It has been one of the toughest, if not the toughest moment in my career.
“Thursday was one of the toughest days I have had. Especially when you are waiting in a room waiting to see if your name is called.
“It was a really sad day, it has been a hard week altogether and we have tried to adapt to it as best we can.
“Just getting the week out of the way could be a good thing for the players that are still here.
“It was a tough week.”
Mckay will continue playing for the club as well as acting as coach for the first team.
They are now 15 points behind Dumbarton who are in ninth place and on 12 points after Saturday’s results in League One.
Mckay revealed after Duncan Ferguson was axed as manager by administrators on Wednesday, he received a call from Kellacher asking him to be part of his coaching team.
He says he accepted the chance to become a coach as he is keen to remain in football once his playing career is over.
Speaking about considering the offer, Mckay said: “It didn’t take me long to be honest.
“Scott rang and asked me to do it and I said yes. Obviously I have had a good relationship with him the first time that I was here and we have worked well together over the last few years.
“As much as we are happy to be helping the club, it is never nice when you lose a manager.
“He has been given his chance and he has asked me to come along with him and we will give it our all.
“Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am interested in the coaching side of the game. The last three or four years I have been helping out at the academy doing my badges.
“When you get older, you think a lot about what you are going to do after football.
“I definitely want to do this for the rest of my working career. I want to be in football and I am excited for this chance.”
Mckay felt the game against Dumbarton on Saturday was there for the taking and for 60 minutes was pleased with their performance.
But he said they were not good enough in the final 30 minutes and that is something they need to improve on.
He said: “For 60 minutes we were excellent, the ball was in the box, we had crosses and shots, their goalkeeper had saves and there was ricochets to prevent us going ahead 2-1.
“We suffered a setback and that is where our reaction has to be better. We go 2-1 down and we lost control of the game, and we get done on the counter attack.
“There are things to take forward from that 60 minutes, but there is a lot to work on.”
Despite being 15 points from safety, Inverness still have 25 matches remaining in the regular season to try and get off bottom spot.
Mckay believes they are good enough to do it, but improvements are required.
He said: “The mindset we have got is we are going to try and win every game.
“The fans won’t be happy with the result, but I hope they will see what we are trying to do.
“On another day, we would have won that game. But there is a lot to work on.”