From Championship top-scorer to being released from the National League, what has happened to Ross McCormack’s career?
Following relegation to the Championship in the 2013/14 season, Fulham were keen to bounce straight back to the top flight and splashed out £11million on the former Leeds United striker.
McCormack went on to have two very successful seasons at the club where he scored 42 goals and was also included in the Championship PFA Team of the Year in 2014 – in total, McCormack scored 42 goals in 100 games in all competitions for Fulham.
However, after finishing in 20th-place, Aston Villa came calling for Fulham’s talisman and paid a Championship record fee at the time of £12 million.
Villa manager Steve Bruce then revealed that McCormack had been dropped from the first team squad for ‘continually missing training’, going on to claim that he was ;nowhere near fit enough to play and be involved’.
Following that, the striker had a brief loan spell at Nottingham Forest where he appeared seven times and scored one goal.
After struggling in England, McCormack looked elsewhere to try and recover his fitness and more importantly his career- he signed a one-year loan deal at Australian side Melbourne City.
He scored 14 goals in 17 games for the club but was then dropped from the Melbourne City squad for being ‘exceptionally late to training’.
He tried his luck again in Australia but this time at Central Coast Mariners and ended up playing alongside World Record Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, where he provided the assist for Bolt’s only goal.
The previous Scottish International was released at the end of the 18/19 season and would then have a year out of the game. However, in September 2020, he made a shock move to National League side Aldershot Town.
The former Leeds player appeared twice in the National League and was recently one of the players they released in the summer.
At the age of 35, we have more than likely seen the end of McCormack’s playing career. With 120 Championship goals to his name though, he will no doubt go down as an EFL legend.
