The Scottish FA is delighted to announce the appointment of Malky Mackay as its new Performance Director.

He joins having amassed a breadth of experience as a player and coach, as well as being instrumental in the development of young players.

Malky played with distinction for Celtic, Norwich City, West Ham United and Watford, achieving consecutive promotions to the Premier League in England with all three clubs.

He also earned five caps for Scotland in the process, having started out on his journey at Hampden with Queens Park.

Malky became manager of Watford in June 2009 and subsequently won promotion to the Premier League as manager of Cardiff City in 2013.

As Performance Director, he will be responsible for overseeing the strategy designed to improve elite talent development across the game, working in partnership with the clubs to deliver successful future international players.

Malky Mackay: “I am immensely proud and privileged to become Performance Director and I am acutely aware of the importance of this role in achieving future success for our talented young players.

“As someone who was fortunate enough to develop as a young player at Queen’s Park and realise my dream of playing for my country at the national stadium, this feels like coming home. I can’t wait to work in partnership with our clubs and my colleagues at the Scottish FA to help improve future generations of Scotland players.”

Stewart Regan, Scottish FA Chief Executive: “From the start of the recruitment process, Malky was an outstanding candidate and by the end of that thorough process he was the outstanding candidate.

“His experiences as a player and a manager are complemented by his strategic outlook and commitment to implement many of the exciting proposals the Performance Working Group have discussed in recent months.

“Malky will spend the initial weeks and months immersing himself in these recommendations and speaking to all relevant groups to provide a future framework that is conducive to meeting our shared objective: to provide a better standard of player for the benefit of our clubs and, ultimately, our national teams.”