Former Scotland striker announces his retirement from football

Jamie Mackie hangs up his boots

Jamie Mackie in action for Scotland in a 2012 World Cup qualifier against Serbia.

Former Scotland forward Jamie Mackie has retired from football.

The 34-year-old was most recently on the books of Oxford United, and was an unused substitute in the Sky Bet League One play-off final defeat to Wycombe last week.

Mackie made over 500 professional appearances for the likes of Wimbledon, MK Dons, Exeter, Plymouth, QPR, Nottingham Forest, Reading and Oxford over the past 17 years.He joined Oxford in 2018 and made 91 appearances for the club, with his farewell coming in the play-off semi-final at home to Portsmouth.

Mackie made nine appearances for Scotland, scoring two goals. He was given his debut by Craig Levein in a Euro qualifier against Czech Republic in 2010, a notorious match in which Levein deployed a formation with no striker.

His goals for the national side were in friendly wins against the Faroe Islands and Cyprus and his final cap came in the World Cup qualifying defeat by Belgium in Brussels in 2012.

Born in Dorking in Surrey, Mackie qualified for Scotland, through his grandfather who was born in Kilmarnock.

He told Oxford's website that it was a hard decision to retire.

"It was extremely tough because I have loved every moment of being a footballer and it's all I've ever wanted to do,” he said.

"Those play-off games were so emotional, especially because I had known all the way through that they would be my last games.

"I wanted to end on a high but that wasn't to be and so the last week or so has been all about talking it through with my family and making sure it wasn't just a reaction to the disappointment of losing at Wembley.

"It's not that. It's about knowing when the time is right to hang the boots up.

"It's time for a new challenge. If that's in football in some way then great, but if not then I can walk away knowing that I have given it everything I had to give in every training session and in every game I played."