QPR's Mackie is back in FA Cup action exactly a year after his horror injury

Jamie Mackie disagreed with Neil Warnock. Queens Park Rangers, firmly on course for promotion, were at Blackburn in the FA Cup third round and Warnock thought his striker ought to sit this one out.
Mackie, however, was desperate to play. ‘I was playing every week, every minute of every game and I didn’t want to miss this one,’ he says. ‘It was a chance to play against Premier League opposition.
‘The manager said I needed a rest but I convinced him I should play. You think you’re invincible sometimes when you’re flying. His words were, “Well, you’d better not get injured”.’

Mackie broke his right leg in a collision with Gael Givet, an injury which achieved notoriety because Blackburn’s El Hadji Diouf spat insults at the stricken player as he lay on the turf. That was one year ago. For Mackie it was bad enough without Diouf’s brainless contribution. Here he was, making up for lost time, speeding towards the Premier League. Then, crash.
‘I was absolutely devastated,’ he says. ‘It took me a while to get my head around it. I’d never had any sort of injury. I was lying on my mum’s sofa feeling sorry for myself. I had a cast on for quite a long time. What carried me through was the lads doing so well and getting promotion.
‘I knew if I did my hard graft there might still be a chance and, after nine-and-a-half months of rehab I was back, playing in the Premier League against Manchester United, playing well, scoring my first Premier League goal and playing for Scotland again. It’s another chapter in quite a long story.’
Mackie left school at 16 with no job and not much of a plan yet navigated a route to the best league in world football via Milton Keynes and Devon.
What better time for an uplifting tale of the underdog than FA Cup third-round day with QPR at MK Dons?

After unwinding following one of his regular yoga sessions, 26-year-old Mackie is ready to rewind. Born and raised in Dorking, Surrey, he played for Leatherhead in his final school year. Professional clubs scouted him and Millwall invited him to train but no-one offered a scholarship deal.
‘I always wanted a career in football and I never thought of anything else,’ he says. ‘When I didn’t have a club at 16, people at school were saying, “You’re never going to play football for a living, you need to think of something else”. But I never did. I’ve always believed in myself. I knew I was good enough. I knew I’d get a chance and that when it came along I wouldn’t let it go.’
Leatherhead boss Alex Inglethorpe - later manager of Exeter and now coaching in Tottenham’s academy - had faith too. He called Wimbledon and persuaded them to take a chance.
‘I went into Wimbledon’s youth team,’ says Mackie. ‘But I wasn’t on a contract because they’d filled their quota of YTS kids. They gave my mum a bit of petrol money to drive me up in the mornings and I kept my head down, worked hard and didn’t rock the boat. It wasn’t long before the manager Stuart Murdoch wanted me to train with the first team. I was 17 and they were talking about a debut. As soon as that happened there was a pro contract.’

Mackie made his debut on Boxing Day in 2003 but six months later Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes and the dynamic changed. The club invested in older players and he did not start a league game in 2004-05. Then he was released by boss Danny Wilson.
‘I remember it really clearly, even now,’ he says. ‘On the day it was really hard. I had to call my family and friends and say, “I’ve been released”. It’s hard to say that.
‘Everyone had been so proud of me and I almost felt embarrassed. It was like I wasn’t good enough. Maybe I wasn’t. Maybe I needed coaching. But it helped to have that low point because I never wanted it again. I didn’t sulk. Alex was down at Exeter and I trusted him, so I went there.
‘They had a good side in the Conference. The club were buzzing. Alex and Steve Perryman had saved them from going out of business and they’d just played Manchester United in the FA Cup.

‘I wouldn’t swap my path to the Premier League for anything. I’ve got good morals and they stand me in good stead. The academies are where you really learn football. I missed those years and had to catch up.
‘At Exeter I had good coaches like Alex, Paul Buckle and Paul Tisdale, and they worked hard to get me to a higher level. I knuckled down and worked on my hold-up play, scoring goals, finding the right places to be on the pitch. I dedicated everything to getting back into the Championship and I did it with Plymouth.’
From Plymouth to QPR and, less than four years after leaving non-League, Mackie made his Premier League debut, albeit in a 6-0 defeat at Fulham.

‘I get the chance to play against Patrice Evra and Ashley Cole and I think, these are the best, let’s see how good I am,’ he says. ‘A lot of people said I’d never have the chance. It might be a different route to other people but I’m here on merit.’


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If only the majority rather than the minority of players had his attitude. Deserves every success...

 

this is one reason why I would def give him a place in the 25 man squad.