Kieran Tierney

WITH his thousand yard stare, chest-thumping goal celebrations and blatant disregard for his personal wellbeing in the heat of battle, Stuart Pearce epitomised the British bulldog spirit during his lengthy career in an England shirt.

His insatiable will to win – which led to him being dubbed “Psycho” by Nottingham Forest fans during his time at the City Ground – had seldom been seen before he played and has probably never been witnessed since he retired.

Until now that is. For Mark McGhee, the Scotland assistant manager, the similarities between Kieran Tierney, the Celtic full-back, and Pearce are glaring.

It was certainly hard to avoid making the comparison during the William Hill Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen at the end of last month. Tierney suffered a horrendous mouth injury in the first half and had to be rushed to hospital for treatment. He will require surgery at some point.

Yet, the youngster, who only turned 20 on Monday, still returned to Hampden to join his team mates for the trophy presentation. As he held the silverware aloft and punched his fist into his blood-stained jersey it was obvious just what the victory meant to him. Pearce, his fellow left back, exhibited exactly the same sort of passion during his playing days.

McGhee drew further parallels after watching Tierney - who will be fit to play for Scotland against England in the Russia 2018 qualifier on Saturday after having a special gumshield made for him – in training yesterday.

He can envisage the prodigiously-talented defender striking terror into opponents in the same way as Pearce did in his heyday as his burgeoning reputation grows in the seasons to come.

“Kieran’s fearless,” said McGhee. “He has been throwing himself into challenges as usual. You’ve got to hold him back at times. He is one of these boys who only knows one way to play and that includes at training. I don’t think he has a second gear he trains at before shifting up for games. He trains the way he plays.

“Stuart Pearce is a great example of that. That blood on the face and head is Kieran. That’s the way you expect him to be, with his determination and aggression. He might not intimidate people yet because they don’t know him well enough. But in time he will be a player who, simply by playing against him, players will be intimidated by.”

Both Pearce and Tierney, too, possess the same pleasant and mild-mannered demeanour off the park which is in stark contrast to their attitude on it.

“He is definitely one who grows, even in terms of his physical stature, when he goes out there,” said McGhee. “You see him round the camp and he is going around with his duffel bag. I don’t know what he keeps in it. His boots probably - and his gumshield now. But when he takes that off and walks on to the pitch he is a different animal.”

McGhee envisages Tierney having no difficulties playing at right back, as he did in the 1-0 win over Slovenia back in March, against Group F leaders England on Saturday if, as looks highly likely, Gordon Strachan asks him to switch sides.

“I think he did brilliantly at right-back,” he said. “He might have surprised a lot of people. We weren’t surprised, but we were pleased. We didn’t necessarily know any more than you did about how he would look.

“The manager spoke to Brendan (his Celtic counterpart Rodgers) and got his thoughts and everybody was confident the boy was a good enough player to carry it off. He proved that. Whether he is going to be asked to do that again has yet to be decided, but we would be confident that he would make a good fist of it if he was asked to play there.”

Tierney, who has, despite his tender years, excelled in Europe as well as domestically for Celtic in the past two seasons, has attracted interest in England and last month Rodgers revealed he had turned down a multi-million pound bid for him from down south shortly after he arrived in Glasgow. McGhee, though, doesn’t expect him to be fazed by the speculation about his future or the scrutiny he will be under in this massive outing.

“There’s no real pressure on him, because I don’t think he will pay much attention to what’s being said about him,” he said. “He won’t believe what anyone says. There are people around him keeping his feet on the ground. That’s not something he will be blase about, it’s just something he won’t be aware of. He will just get on with his job. Therefore I think it’s an opportunity for him - and he probably doesn’t realise this - to show how good a player he is.

“We will ask him to play his natural game, we won’t put any artificial reins on him. He has great recovery as well. We were happy with the way we got up to Slovenia, put pressure on them and closed them down. To do that you need to have people prepared to step forward. He will certainly do that.”

 

He's been unbelievable in that back three with the other two of Berra and Chico let's be honest, nowhere near this level. Doesn't look 20, looks closer to 30 with his decision making.

 

What a player we have.

 

He's been the best player on the pitch, regardless of what what team.

 

Expecting some bids after this..

 

Terrific player. Tbf, both him and Robertson have looked great today. Two of the better fullbacks in the UK.

 

Playing super football

 

He can play anywhere in defence, as well as left wing, that's incredible for a young player. Not just the fact he can fill in everywhere- he excels everywhere he plays. Bet he could go into goals and be MOTM.

 

Excellent against England £20m now

 

wee superstar

 

Another brilliant display. Absolutely priceless. I seriously hope he never goes.

 

Has barely turned 20 and has already played 3 different positions for the national team, mental.

 

And been fantastic in all 3 positions. He's a special player.

 

Like I've said before........we can sell Dembele and I'd get over it rather quickly. We could see Broonie retire early and although I'd be gutted I'd accept it.

IF KT left I'd be absolutely mortified. Close to depression/tears football wise. One of our own, his youth gives us hope and his talent commands respect for him and us as a club that produces young players and our potential to progress across Europe in future.

As soon as he is ready he should be made captain . If Harry Kane can do it, so can KT. Maybe once Broonie plays less games get him to captain us in cup games or something.

 

50 million, then we'll talk

 

The next Paul McStay in terms of importance to the club/passion. I look forward to watching every game he plays in.

 

He's smart as *, every pass spot on and has better vision thn eyanuctnt else nt the amta

 

Whilst I understand where McGhee is coming from with those Stuart Pearce comparisons, in terms of will to win, fierce tackling, courage etc, but KT is already a far more skilful player.

 

Another good game, but royally fkd up in lead up to 1St goal.

Learning all the time though.

 

I've said it before, but the kid is a warrior.

I'm glad he played as the left of a back three, I think that suits him and Robertson far better. It's just a shame we have such a dearth of quality in so many other areas.