Ally Mackay, D.C. United’s new chief soccer officer and general manager, is from Outer Hebrides, a ribbon of islands off northwest Scotland. It’s close to a three-hour ferry ride across the Minch to the mainland and an hour-long flight to Glasgow, a megalopolis compared to Point, his speck of a hometown on Isle of Lewis.
He ventured to the University of Evansville in Indiana to play soccer and worked as a player agent based in Orlando before joining Nashville SC’s front office ahead of its 2020 inaugural season in MLS.
Suffice to say, Mackay knows a little about going great distances to meet objectives.