John George Mackie (born 5 July 1976) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender, notably for Reading and Leyton Orient. He was most recently joint manager of FC Romania.
Playing career Mackie was born in London 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 Leyton Orient 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 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 reunited with former Leyton Orient manager Martin Ling in June 2015, as a youth coach at Hertfordshire Senior County League club Lings Elite.
Mackie was appointed assistant manager of Greenwich Borough in December 2015.
Mackie was appointed assistant manager of Potters Bar Town in May 2019.
In April 2021, Mackie was appointed joint-manager of Essex Senior League 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 + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsCrawley Town1995–96Southern League Premier Division250——1003501996–97Southern League Premier Division30020—403601997–98Southern League Premier Division35310—614241998–99Southern League Premier Division36240—101503Total126570—3021637Sutton United1999–2000Conference8000—0080Reading2000–01Second Division1003020101602001–02Second Division2722000203122002–03First Division2502010002802003–04First Division910010—00Total713704030853Sutton United (loan)1999–2000Conference10———10Leyton Orient2003–04Third Division2010000—2012004–05League Two2741000303142005–06League Two4064110104672006–07League One350200010380Total1221171105013512Brentford2007–08League Two140101000160A.F.C. Hornchurch2007–08Isthmian League Premier Division50———50Career total347192216038241322
Honours Crawley Town
Sussex Floodlight Cup: 1998–99
Reading
Football League Second Division second-place promotion: 2001–02
Leyton Orient
Football League Two third-place promotion: 2005–06
References
External links
John Mackie at readingfc.co.uk