Former Gor Mahia coach Johnathan McKinstry has spent his football managerial career moving from one record achievement to another. However, victory against Kenya’s Harambee Stars remains an unconquered summit for the globetrotting 40-year-old Northern Ireland tactician.
McKinstry has coached in 10 countries across four continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. He has been around the world in record-laden 174 matches as a coach, and his 175th assignment brings him back to Kenya with The Gambia, the country whose national team he now coaches. His record reads 89 wins, 40 draws, and 45 losses.
His appointment as the coach of The Gambia in June 2024 made him the first person from Northern Ireland to manage four international football teams. He had previously coached the national teams of Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. His club coaching career includes stints with Kenya’s Gor Mahia, Kauno Zalgiris of Lithuania, and Saif Sporting Club in Bangladesh. Gor Mahia is the club that he coached before taking over at The Gambia.
As a national team coach, McKinstry has coached a team against Kenya thrice before, and all three encounters ended in stalemates. Twice with Rwanda and once with The Gambia.
McKinstry was left frustrated after The Gambia drew with Harambee Stars in a six-goal thriller on March 20 this year during a 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier played in Abidjan. The Scorpions hosted the match in the Ivorian capital because The Gambia does not have a CAF-approved stadium.
The Gambia led twice, 2-0 and then 3-2, but Benni McCarthy’s boys fought back to snatch a 3-3 draw that marked the start of the South African’s tenure as Harambee Stars coach. McCarthy had only been appointed to the position on March 3.
McKinstry and The Gambia are currently in the country preparing for the return leg of the fixture at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, on September 5. The match will kick off at 4 pm.
The Gambia national football coach Jonathan McKinstry speaks to the media during his team's training at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, on September 2 2025.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo| Nation Media Group
Evidently, McKinstry is very familiar with Kenyan football and knows McCarthy’s players very well. He has also been keeping tabs on Kenyan football. In a press briefing held at the Kasarani Annex on Tuesday ahead of The Gambia’s first training session, McKinstry lauded McCarthy for instilling a fighting spirit in Harambee Stars players. He also stated that he anticipates a hostile atmosphere at Kasarani owing to the high turn-out that Harambee Stars have attracted in their matches in recent months.
“It is always nice to come back to Kenya, but I am here for business. Our aim is to collect three points, but it will not be easy. We expect a hostile environment. Kenyans will come in the tens of thousands to support Harambee Stars like we saw in the Chan tournament,” McKinstry had said.
With four matches remaining, qualification to the 2026 Fifa World Cup is a long shot for both Kenya and The Gambia. Harambee Stars are fourth in Group ‘F’ after collecting six points from as many matches. Cote d’Ivoire lead the group with 16 points. Gabon are second with 15 points, followed by Burundi, who are third with 10 points. The Gambia and Seychelles are fifth and sixth with four and zero points respectively.
McKinstry coached Gor Mahia from July 2022 to June 2024, guiding them to 43 wins in 72 matches, his most in a single managerial stint.
His spell with K’Ogalo was a catalogue of overcoming the odds. He won two league titles and a FKF Charity Shield with a team shackled by a transfer ban, meagre financial resources, an auctioned team bus, and exits of key and experienced players.
Victor Nyaoro, who was Gor Mahia’s Head of Logistics during McKinstry’s tenure at the club, remembers the Northern Irishman as a straightforward man of early mornings and late nights.
“He is through with his job. His work ethic is unmatchable, and he respects everybody. I enjoyed working with him,” Nyaoro said.
“He was also a big motivator and created a family atmosphere at Gor Mahia. Whenever the boys met targets he had set for them, he rewarded them by taking them out for nyama choma,” Nyaoro added.
The Gambia national football players train at the Moi International Sports Centre on September 2, 2025, ahead of their 2016 World Cup Group F qualifying match against Kenya’s Harambee Stars at the same venue.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
In a previous conversation with former Gor Mahia team manager Jolawi Obondo, Obondo expressed awe at how McKinstry connected with Gor Mahia fans. “There was a time we had an away match against Kenya Police FC, and they had set ticket prices for the terraces at the Police Sacco Stadium at Sh1,500. Most of our fans could not afford that sum, and McKinstry bought tickets worth Sh55 000 for some of our fans to attend the match,” Obondo had said.
The incident was evidence of how much McKinstry had embraced the club. It was an action that was consistent with statements McKinstry had made in various media interviews and reports – that he loves learning new languages and cultures.
In a way, McKinstry was destined to have that worldly view of life.
He was born 40 years ago in Lisburn, a city located 13 kilometres southwest of Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland.
When he was a teenager working part-time in an apparel shop, a workmate told him that he had “itchy feet” and he was destined to travel the world. McKinstry shared that with the BBC in an August 2023 interview.
The workmate’s declaration came to pass. After completing high school, McKinstry left Lisburn and never stopped moving. While in Lisburn, it dawned early on him that he had no talent to make it as a footballer. However, after leaving Lisburn, he went around the world showing people how to play football.
His first stop was in Newcastle, a city that had been put in his family’s way after one of his aunts married into a family that had a brother playing for Newcastle United, McKinstry told the Not a Pundit podcast in July 2024. His aunt had married a brother of Paul Ferris, Newcastle United’s second youngest player ever after Steve Watson. As a result, McKinstry became a Newcastle United fan, and his connection with the city and the Magpies deepened when he joined Northumbria University to study Applied Sports Science.
“I joined Northumbria University because they had a strong sports program, and being in Newcastle, I could get to watch Newcastle United play a lot,” McKinstry told Not a Pundit.
UEFA ‘B’ coaching licence
While in Newcastle, McKinstry made use of the UEFA ‘B’ coaching licence he had earned when he was 18. He made use of it so much that he ended up spending more time coaching than attending his classes. “I spent 15 hours per week coaching,” he confessed to Not a Pundit.
Still, he managed to graduate in 2007, but learning never stopped. More certificates, diplomas, and licences in football coaching and management followed. He added others in emergency First Aid, leadership, mentorship, and safeguarding children. The credentials came from institutions that matter in football – Coerver, the FA, Football Coach Evolution, United Soccer Coaches, and Uefa.
In Newcastle, he was a coach in Newcastle United’s elite youth development programs. After leaving the Magpies, he flew to new beginnings in a similar role with the New York Red Bulls. Still, the wings never stopped flapping. Ghana called, and his response took him to Accra’s Right to Dream Academy. His next move had a Newcastle connection to it, but his role remained the same – an elite youth development program coach. This time, he landed in Sierra Leone to work in the foundation of former Newcastle United player Craig Bellamy.
Soon, an upgrade followed, and a record-breaking coaching career started. At the age of 27, he was named Sierra Leone’s coach, making him the world’s youngest international football coach at the time. With them, he survived an Ebola outbreak, guided the team to their highest ever Fifa ranking (position 50), and were unbeaten at home.
Still, he was sacked in September 2014 but Rwanda gave him a new home in March 2015. He rewarded them with records. He led them to their first appearance in a Cecafa final in 16 years, an achievement that was decorated with him being named the 2015 Cecafa coach of the tournament. That was followed by guiding the Amavumbi to a quarterfinal appearance at Chan 2016, Rwanda's first-ever appearance in the knockout stages at a major tournament. He also led them to their biggest victory in an Afcon/Fifa World Cup qualifier (a 5-0 win over Mauritius in March 2016).
The Rwanda sojourn was kept short and sweet, but in Lithuania, he was found out quickly, and his debut victory with Kauno Zalgiris was relegated to beginner’s luck. He joined Kauno Zalgiris in July 2017 and left in January 2018, having led the club to just one victory in 12 matches.
Later, Bangladesh came offering affirmation through Saif Sporting Club in November 2018. It was time to experience Asian football, and he introduced Saif SC fans to club records – most points gained, wins recorded, and goals scored in a Premier League season. He left them in September 2019 as the head coach with the most wins in the history of their club.
After leaving the club, McKinstry returned to East Africa to make more history with Uganda. He qualified them for Chan 2020 and helped them win the 2019 Cecafa with a 100% record. His win percentage (67 per cent) was the highest by a coach of the Ugandan national football team in 15 years. He led Uganda to 12 wins in 18 matches.
He left Uganda in April 2021, and when he returned to the touchline in July 2022, it was to write more history with Gor Mahia.
