Scott Fraser McKenna (born 12 November 1996) is a Scottish 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 plays as a defender for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and the Scotland national team. McKenna has also previously played for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

as well as

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

and

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

on loan.

Club career

Aberdeen

McKenna began his career in the

academy and was initially a

left back 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 ...

before moving to the centre. The ''Daily Record'' called him "one of the most promising defenders in the country". McKenna made his professional debut for Aberdeen as a substitute against

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

on 6 February 2016. His first start came against Heart of Midlothian on 16 May 2016. On 22 May 2016, he signed a new two-year contract with Aberdeen, In November 2016, McKenna moved on loan to

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side

for 28 days, his second time on loan with the club. His loan was subsequently extended until the end of the season. In October 2017, McKenna extended his Aberdeen contract until 2021. The club rejected a bid from

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

to buy him in January 2018. In January 2018, McKenna scored from more than 35 yards in Aberdeen's 3–1 win against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. He claimed in an interview after the match that Kilmarnock skipper

Kris Boyd Kris Boyd (born 18 August 1983) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Boyd grew up in the South Ayrshire village of Tarbolton and started his senior career with Kilmarnock. He transferred to Rangers in January ...

urged him to "shoot" so he obliged. On 7 March 2018, McKenna signed a new contract extension until 2023. Aberdeen rejected an offer of £3.5 million for McKenna from

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in August 2018. Later in August, Aberdeen rejected a larger offer from

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. During the summer 2019 transfer window, Aberdeen rejected offers from

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and

for McKenna after he handed in a transfer request. In December 2019 Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack confirmed the club had received no offers or approaches from other clubs for McKenna or teammate

Sam Cosgrove Sam Benjamin Cosgrove (born 2 December 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Barnsley. He began his career with Wigan Athletic, and had loan spells in non-league football with Barrow, Chorley, Nantwi ...

. McKenna suffered a torn hamstring during a Scottish Cup tie at St Mirren on 29 February 2020. In August 2020 he was one of eight Aberdeen players who received a suspended three-match ban from the

Scottish FA The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for ...

after they breached restrictions relating to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

by visiting a bar earlier in the month. Aberdeen entered transfer negotiations with Nottingham Forest regarding McKenna in September 2020, which meant that he was left out of the Aberdeen team for a match with

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

Nottingham Forest

On 23 September 2020, McKenna moved to

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side

for an undisclosed fee. The fee was confirmed by Aberdeen as a "club-record fee" reported as a £3 million fee that could rise to £6 million. He made his Forest debut on 25 September 2020 in a 1–0 defeat to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win over

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on 4 November 2020. He was crowned as Forest's Player of the Season for their promotion winning 2021–22 campaign.

International career

McKenna captained the Scotland under-19s in a 2–2 draw with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 2014. McKenna made his first appearance for the Scotland under-21s in September 2017. McKenna was selected for the full national squad in March 2018, and made his full international debut in a 1–0 defeat against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

on 23 March. In his fourth game for Scotland, a 1–0 defeat to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on 2 June 2018, McKenna was made team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. On 11 October 2018, McKenna came on a second-half substitute in a 2–1 defeat against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, marking his competitive debut for Scotland.

Personal life

A pupil at

Webster's High School Webster's High School is a secondary school in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland. The school has run for over 150 years, and there are over 650 pupils in the school. The school has 4 houses; Isla, Moy, Prosen and Clova, The houses are named after Angu ...

Kirriemuir Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'' ( gd, An Ceathramh Mòr; IPA: nˈkʰʲɛɾəvmoːɾ, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical ...

, McKenna supported

as a boy. He is distantly related to the late

Alan Gilzean Alan John Gilzean (; 22 October 1938 – 8 July 2018) was a Scottish professional footballer, active from 1955 to 1975. A striker, Gilzean played most prominently for Dundee and Tottenham Hotspur, and also appeared in 22 international games for ...

, who was a cousin of McKenna's maternal grandmother. His father Ian played semi-professionally in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

for

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

and Montrose in the 1990s.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Nottingham Forest *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual *

Player of the Season 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Scott 1996 births Living people People from Kirriemuir Footballers from Angus, Scotland Scottish footballers Aberdeen F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Association football central defenders Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Premier League players Scotland youth international footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players