| Gary Mackay-Steven |
Gary Sean Mackay-Steven was born on Friday, 31st August, 1990, in Thurso, Caithness. The 5' 8 (11st 5lbs) forward signed for Mark Wilson's Thistle on Thursday, 26th March, 2026, having most recently been with Ross County. Aged 35, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 11th April, 2026, in a 2-0 win at home to Dunfermline Athletic in the SPFL Championship. We look forward to seeing Gary score his first goal for Thistle. His club-list includes Liverpool, Fulham, Airdrie United, Dundee United, Celtic, Aberdeen, New York City, Heart of Midlothian, Kilmarnock, Ross County and Partick Thistle. Gary is contracted at Firhill until May, 2026. |
![]() The twice-capped Highlander started out in the Ross County Youth Academy before switching to the prestiguous Liverpool equivalent in the summer of 2007, just as he was turning 17. Although he wasn't a second team regular, the Liverpool Academy youngster played up in some fixtures in the English Premier Reserve League under Gary Ablett in 2008-09. His time there was hampered with injury and he moved on to Fulham for a couple of seasons, where he mainly played in the U23s. The 21-year-old finally got going in senior football when he signed for Airdrie United in the January transfer window of 2011, scoring a 25-yarder on his debut, a 2-2 Scottish Cup draw away to Morton. He signed for Dundee United in the summer of 2011 and, from then on, he wowed crowds with his ball skills and tricky wing play, leading to international recognition in mid-November 2013, when he made a late sub appearance in a goalless friendly draw against the USA at Hampden Park. His performances in three-and-a-half seasons at Tannadice earned him a move to Celtic where he won three Scottish Premiership titles, playing 62 games and scoring 10 goals along the way. After departing the Hoops in the summer of 2017, Gary spent two seasons at Aberdeen and hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when a night out went badly wrong in the early hours of 27 August 2017, when he had to be rescued from the River Kelvin in Glasgow after falling in. He was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where he was treated for hypothermia. In better news, he was recalled to the Scotland squad in October 2018, for a friendly against Portugal, coming on as second half substitute and assisting Steven Naismith in scoring Scotland's only goal of the game. That turned out to be his second and last cap, and he subesquently had playing adventures with New York City (2019-2020), Hearts (2021-2023) and Kilmarnock (2023-2025) before landing back at Ross County where he made 19 appearances in all competitions during the 2025-26 season. Gary, who was living just a mile away from Firhill, was identified as an ideal supplement for Mark Wilson's injury-ravaged squad in late March 2026. Thistle's head coach explained the rationale behind the signing:
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