Barrie McKay, born on the 31st of December 1994, graced the earth with his footballing prowess predominantly as a left winger, despite the Scottish Premiership's repeated insistence of pigeonholing him as a mere forward. Hampered not by his rather average 5ft 8in (1.75m) stature, or his lean 11st 6lb (73kg) frame, his career began quite unremarkably as a trainee at Rangers in July 2011. One could argue it was a tad cruel to subject a young lad to such a stumbling track record in his formative years, considering his rather pale first season highlighted an underwhelming single league match appearance.
But ah, optimism - isn't it a beautiful thing? McKay endured four seasons more at Rangers, with an equally uninspiring goal tally. His second season briefly deceived us with 31 appearances, only to be peppered with a single goal. One could argue that the subsequent two seasons, marked by a rather mediocre player record, added Little to the overall tapestry that is Barrie McKay's football saga.
In a move that could be perplexingly deemed 'ambitious', in December 2013 Rangers offloaded McKay to Greenock Morton on loan. A cosmetic upgrade in performance, 18 appearances and three goals in league matches later, and McKay was back to Rangers in July 2014. However, soon after, he was again transferred on loan, this time to Raith Rovers, eventually notching another 23 appearances and a goal to his CV.
A brief return to Rangers awaited him in July 2015, presumably to ensure the canteen food was still of acceptable standards. Having scored a combined 11 goals across a further two seasons, McKay decided he was ready for fresh horizons. Thus, in July 2017, Nottingham Forest paid out approximately £500k to pry the winger from Rangers' loose grip, adding a dash of English Premier League excitement to his career story. Although, the word 'excitement' may be a stretch considering his 26 appearances and five goals record.
Chasing a new challenge, or presumably drawn by the allure of the famed Welsh pasties, McKay moved across leagues to Swansea City in July 2018, once again for a cool £500k. His time spent there was eventful, if your definition of eventful involves seeing McKay make 34 appearances across two blunt seasons, gifted with a mere two goals.
Briefly pausing traffic on the footballer-transfer highway, McKay detoured to Fleetwood Town on loan, before bouncing back to home soil with Hearts in the Scottish Premiership in September 2021. Four seasons, a smattering of appearances, and six goals later, he's nowhere to be found - presumably off gallivanting in unnamed lands.
