Kieran Tierney’s Celtic Legacy

By Daniel Hayes

“Mostly I hate that the way I don’t hate you.  Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all”.

This time last year, Kieran Tierney was still very much a Celtic player.  Of course, ever since his early graduation into the Celtic first team there had been interest in the Scot from England and all over Europe.  However, somehow there was never truly a fear amongst Celtic fans that Tierney would be in a rush to move on from the club.  At the time, the life-long Celtic fan was just 22 and seemed to be enjoying every minute at the club.

As a Celtic fan, there is an obvious fear that the better your players become, the more inevitable it seems that they will move on to lesser clubs, but in a bigger league.  In the last decade alone, Celtic supporters have watched helplessly as players like Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper, Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele have strolled out the Parkhead door, without hesitation.  All of these players enjoyed tremendous success at Celtic, instantly building wonderful relationships with the fans.  However, eventually, the lure of big money and perceived “bigger” clubs proves too much for some players.

The difference between all the aforementioned superstars and Kieran Tierney is that half of the appeal of the latter was that he was a major Celtic fan, born and bred.  

KT broke into the side during Ronny Deila’s second season and after only a few games in, the Celtic support fell in love with the Bhoy who would be soon known as “one of our own” – and while the feeling was mutual, Tierney’s love for Celtic and its fans went a long way back.

The defender’s popularity did not come just from his strong relationship with the fans, however.  Aside from his down-to-earth personality and fierce passion for Celtic Football Club, it grew immediately clear that the youngster was extremely talented and hard-working.  His performances on the park spoke even louder than any chant he started with a megaphone with the Green Brigade.

Season after season, Kieran Tierney improved and while still very early on in his career, the Isle of Man born talent became a major leader in a very successful, all conquering Celtic side.  Tierney’s game was improved significantly by former manager Brendan Rodgers.  In the Irishman’s first season in charge of the hoops, Tierney was one of many Celts who excelled as the Hoops won an unprecedented Invincible Treble.

For many, one of the most iconic images in Celtic’s modern history is of Tierney at the end of the Scottish Cup Final 2017.  Celtic had gone the entire season unbeaten and one win against Aberdeen would ensure the team avoided defeat in every domestic game that season, achieving their first treble since 2001.  With the score at 1-1 in the first half, Tierney, who had given his all throughout the season, took an elbow to the jaw from Aberdeen’s Jayden Stockley.  As a side note, the decision not to send off the Don’s striker remains one of the most bizarre referee decisions seen by this writer.  

Tierney was forced to go off, missing a good few teeth and in a significant amount of pain.  And from there, we assumed we had seen the last of Tierney that day has he was rushed straight to the dentist.

We all know the rest of story of that match.  Celtic won the Scottish Cup with a last minute wondergoal from Tom Rogic– who had been Tierney’s replacement.  Celtic had made history.

As the celebrations got underway, Kieran Tierney had rushed out of his barely finished surgery, pumped up with painkillers and headed straight to Hampden.  The youngster has often spoke of how he had to push past the heartbroken Aberdeen fans, who gave him pelters as he sprinted through in his full Celtic strip back into the stadium.  It is hard not to feel goosebumps just thinking of Moussa Dembele handing the trophy over to his hurrying team mate, who grabbed it, along with the badge on his shirt, and screamed in celebration towards an emotional Celtic support.  

It was in that moment that many Celtic fans decided that there was something more to this bhoy.  He was one of us.  An inevitable heir to Scott Brown’s captain’s armband.  A fan who got lucky.  Someone who could fall into the bracket of names like Billy McNeill, Tommy Burns and Paul McStay.

Tierney would go on to win an incredible further two trebles with Celtic, singing and cheering as loud as any other die-hard fan.  You could count with one hand how many bad performances he had for the team.  Sometimes playing through injury, Tierney gave absolutely everything on and off the pitch for the Hoops.

In 2019, rumours that English giants Arsenal were very interested in Tierney gained momentum.  

Arsenal are a huge club in England, pushing to compete and very strong financially.  For most Celtic players, it is easy to imagine why the North London club would be an appealing destination.  However, this way Kieran Tierney: Mr Celtic.  Somehow as fans, many of us had a cockiness that Arsenal’s appeal of much higher wages, a more competitive league and regular European football would be insignificant because Kieran Tierney loved Celtic more than the game itself.  Furthermore, Celtic were on a run of 8 consecutive titles, pushing towards the promised land of 10-in-a-row.  Many hoped Tierney would stay even after that was achieved, taking the armband off his hero, Scott Brown.  However, the least fans expected was for KT to stay for 10.

In August that year, after a long, drawn-out saga, Kieran Tierney signed for Arsenal for £25 million.

Speaking personally, I absolutely refused to believe he was gone until I saw him in Arsenal’s red and white.  Surely not! This was our Bhoy.  Our main link between the stands and the dressing room.  The fan who got lucky, who would go on to become a Celtic legend.

If I’m honest, my immediate reaction was to compare Tierney to the less than popular Brendan Rodgers, who was and continues to be in the bad books for many Celtic fans after his sudden departure to the Premier League shortly before Tierney’s.  I could not understand how Tierney could spend all his early years in professional football flying the flag for Celtic fans who always dreamed of pulling on the green and white ourselves.  The official first team correspondent to the fans, and vice versa – gone.

It seemed written in the stars that Tierney would hold on for the illustrious 10th league title in a row, writing his name into Celtic folklore.  As a Celtic fan, few things in football could possibly seem more perfect.  Therefore, Tierney’s decision to part with his boyhood club for a currently mediocre Arsenal team was a bit of a sickner.  I, along with many Celtic fans felt betrayed and cheated.  We felt if we had ever had the chance to play for Celtic, we would never stop until our legs fell off.

The subject caused debate amongst a number of Celtic fans, and does to this day.  I remember talking to my Dad and Grampa the day after Tierney left.  I was foaming at the mouth, furious that “one of our own” had decided he was one of our own no more.  My Dad’s counter-arguments were simple, yet effective.

Firstly, he spoke of the heartbreak he and all the Celtic support suffered when Kenny Dalglish left Parkhead to head to Liverpool.  Dalglish remains to this day one of the greatest players to play for Celtic and Scotland.  King Kenny played for Celtic from a young age, like Tierney.  His departure softened this more recent blow for many Tims.

However, his more relevant argument regarded Celtic legend, Paul McStay.  McStay is one of the greatest players and icons in Celtic’s long history.  Like Tierney, he came through the youth system to become the best player in the squad.  Many Celtic fans believed Tierney was the second coming of McStay – a fan who got lucky who would always stick with the club through thick and thin.  To my surprise, my Dad spoke about how he had often wished that McStay made the move from Celtic to a bigger club.  Paul McStay spent many years as the only shining light in a very poor Celtic team.  Celtic suffered financial trouble, and had to suffer trophylessseasons as Rangers steamrolled ahead.  Despite this torture, McStay stuck with the club he loved until the end of his career.  My Dad suggests, and I’m sure many fans will agree, that McStay could have gone to the very top of the game – to the point of claiming “Tierney couldn’t lace McStay’s boots”.  McStay’s career however was limited to being the clear stand out of an otherwise poor, underachieving Celtic side.  My old man wishes McStay made his move to prove himself as one of the best in the world – which is why he doesn’t grudge Tierney for trying to do the same thing now.

There are few more popular names than Paul McStay within the grounds of Celtic Park, but there was a hope that Tierney would be up there.  However, perhaps we have to look at the bigger picture.  Celtic got four wonderful, majorly successful seasons out of Kieran Tierney.  Throughout that time, he regularly demonstrated just how much he loved the club and its fans, while quickly becoming the most exciting talent in the country.  

In hindsight, particularly in terms of modern football, there was perhaps an inevitability that Kieran Tierney would have eventually left Celtic and maybe that is not something to be discouraged.  We would of course loved him to spend his career in hoops, captaining the Bhoys to many more trophies.  At the very least, most Celtic fans expected him to stay until 10-in-a-row.

However, nearly a full season on, we cannot help but wish Kieran every success in his career.  There is no denying that he is at a big club with the potential of success, and progression to an even bigger club.  Although some of us have questioned it, deep down we know KT will always be a Celtic man through and through.  He came through the academy and achieved the dream we all so desperately wanted for ourselves.  Wherever he goes and whatever he achieves, he will be the first to remind the world of his roots.

I truly wish Kieran Tierney was still a Celtic player, but wherever he is, he will always represent us as a Celtic man.  He may never be a legend, but we will only ever have good memories of our Bhoy as he sets out to conquer football.

Where do you stand?  Does KT deserve our best wishes or does he fall into the same bracket as Brendan Rodgers?