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One of the many great Scots in Liverpool history, McKinlay made 433 appearances over a span of almost 20 years after arriving at Anfield in January 1910 from junior football in his native Glasgow. He became one of the club's finest left backs, although his remarkable versatility also saw him operate at wing half, centre half and right across the forward line. McKinlay, who won two Scotland caps, stood only 5ft 9ins but was an uncompromising, hard-tackling defender who was a full back partner of both Tom Lucas and Ephraim Longworth. Long before the term "overlapping" had become part of football parlance he was a great exponent of the art, his speed carrying him menacingly into the opposition penalty area. Consequently, McKinlay amassed the impressive total for a mainly defensive player of 34 goals, one of them struck spectacularly from 10 yards inside his own half at West Ham in January 1926! A great dead-ball kicker, he collected an FA Cup runners-up medal in Liverpool's 1914 Final defeat by Burnley and captained the club to consecutive championship triumphs in 1922 and 1923, being a 42-match ever present in the second title season. Injury ended his Liverpool career in 1929. After a spell at Prescot Cables he became a Liverpool publican and died in 1959, aged 68. If you have anything to add to the profile of this player, why not e-mail us with the details?
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