John George Mackie (born 5 July 1976) is an English former 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 ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, notably for

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and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

. He was most recently joint manager of FC Romania.

Playing career

Mackie was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and played football both for his school and for the Area London School Boys team. His dream was to play for Arsenal with whom he had a try out, but was unsuccessful. Later he gained an apprenticeship at West Ham United. At the end of his two-year apprenticeship Mackie was released by West Ham and he started work on a fruit and veg stall while playing for a pub team and Kingsbury Town. He joined Crawley Town in 1995, playing in the Southern League Premier Division. In 1999 he was signed by, then Reading manager, Alan Pardew and joined the then Second Division club. Pardew immediately loaned Mackie out to Sutton United to gain more experience before he start playing for Reading on a semi-regular basis. In his time at Reading Mackie got to play against Chelsea in a League Cup game where the opposition strike force that night consisted of Hernan Crespo. Mackie's time came to an end at Reading in January 2004 when he signed for Leyton Orient. In the 2005–06 season, Mackie made a formidable partnership for

with Gabriel Zakuani and went down in Orient folklore by captaining the Os to their first automatic promotion in 36 years. He was released by the club at the end of the 2006–07 season. On 16 May 2007, he signed for Brentford on a two-year contract. Two days after signing for the Bees, it was announced that Mackie would be Brentford captain for the 2007–08 season. However, Mackie only made 14 league appearances for the club before leaving by mutual consent. He signed for A.F.C. Hornchurch on 18 January 2008, he has since retired from the game and now runs a greengrocers on

Blackstock Road Blackstock Road is a major road in North London, England, running from Seven Sisters Road south westerly to Highbury. Facilities Blackstock Road hosts a diverse array of independent shops, cafes and restaurants. At its south end there are a n ...

in North London. On 7 August 2008, Mackie signed for Hertford Town in a semi-professional capacity, but did not make an appearance.

Coaching career

Mackie was appointed assistant manager of Greenwich Borough in December 2015. Mackie was appointed assistant manager of

Potters Bar Town Potters Bar Town Football Club is an English football club based in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. They were formed in 1960 as Mount Grace Old Scholars, and, after dropping 'Old Scholars' from the name in 1984, changed to their present na ...

in May 2019. In April 2021, Mackie was appointed joint-manager of

Essex Senior League The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthm ...

club Walthamstow with Terry Spillane. The 2021–22 season saw the management duo lead Walthamstow to the Essex Senior League title, their first league title in 37 years. On 15 September 2022, Mackie and Spillane were sacked by the club. On 29 September 2022, Mackie was appointed joint manager of FC Romania, again with Terry Spillane. Mackie left the club on 31 October 2022.

Career statistics

Honours

Reading *

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 t ...

second-place promotion: 2001–02

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

third-place promotion: 2005–06

References

External links

*
John Mackie
at readingfc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackie, John 1976 births Living people English footballers Association football defenders Reading F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Hornchurch F.C. players Hertford Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players London Tigers F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Isthmian League players Footballers from Whitechapel English football managers Southern Football League managers Waltham Forest F.C. managers F.C. Romania managers