John McKay (1885 – after 1911) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who made 19 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

playing for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. McKay was born in

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He began his football career with Hebburn Argyle before joining

of the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

in 1910. He marked his debut for the club, at home to

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

on 10 September 1910, by scoring the only goal of the game, and played fairly regularly while Frank Foxall, also an outside left, was being tried at inside forward. The experiment failed, Foxall returned to the wing and McKay lost his place. When Foxall left, McKay played the first few games of the 1911–12 season, but lost his place again, this time to the newly arrived

Jimmy Conlin Jimmy Conlin (October 14, 1884 – May 7, 1962) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films in his 32-year career. Career Conlin was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1884, and his acting career started out in vaudeville, ...

,Matthews, p. 158. and in 1912 he returned to the north-east to join Blyth Spartans.

References

1885 births Year of death missing Footballers from Hebburn English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Birmingham City F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players English Football League players Date of birth missing Place of death missing Hebburn Argyle F.C. players {{England-footy-forward-1880s-stub