Willie McKay is a British football agent based in Monaco. He is the agent of many top-level footballers, mainly based in England and France - specifically the Premier League. His clients include James McFadden, Joey Barton, Henri Camara, Scott McDonald, Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé, Charles N'Zogbia, Tyrone Mears, Amdy Faye, Ross McCormack, and Pascal Chimbonda.
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McKay was one of the agents investigated by the Quest team, led by Lord Stevens, which looked into allegations of "bungs" and fraud in transfers. The Daily Express claimed in December 2006 that the £8.5m transfer of Jean-Alain Boumsong from Rangers F.C. to Newcastle United was one of the deals being examined by Quest. However Quest said of Graeme Souness, who was manager of Newcastle at the time of the Boumsong transfer, "We wish to make it clear that inconsistencies did not exist within the evidence given by Graeme Souness to Quest concerning his role in transfers covered by the Inquiry during his time as manager of Newcastle United FC and neither the Premier League nor do Quest have any concerns in this regard".[1] In the final report of the Stevens inquiry he was criticised for his failure to co-operate with the inquiry. However, Quest later issued the following statement: "Further to the key findings from the final Quest report published on 15 June 2007 by the Premier League, Quest would like to emphasise that, in that report, it was clear that no evidence of irregular payments was found in the transfers in the inquiry period which involved the agent Willie McKay. Quest would also like to thank Mr McKay for his cooperation with the inquiry".[2] On 1 February 2008 McKay won substantial libel damages against the Daily Express over false claims about his transfer dealings.[3]
On 28 November 2007 it was reported by BBC News that McKay - together with Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp and Managing Director Peter Storrie, former Portsmouth and now Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric, and former Portsmouth footballer Amdy Faye, on loan at Rangers - had been arrested by City of London Police in relation to the ongoing inquiries into allegations of corruption in football.[4][5]
On December 15, 2008, McKay was given a suspended ban by an independent regulatory commission after being found guilty of breaching FA rules. The issue arose over McKay acting as an agent for two consecutive transfers of the same player, Benjani Mwaruwari. The player moved from Auxerre to Portsmouth in January 2006, when McKay acted on behalf of Auxerre, and then the agent acted for Portsmouth when the Zimbabwe striker moved to Manchester City in January 2008. The punishment also stated that any further breaches of the FA's agent regulations will result in McKay being suspended from all deals involving English clubs during one transfer window. Portsmouth FC were also fined £15,000 in the report, despite both them and McKay claiming that the club knew nothing of the agents previous involvement in transfers relating to the particular player.[6][7]