Kieran Tierney

Brendan's thoughts on Kieran today

 

Welling up watching the wee man going daft at the Broony tackle..

He's never leaving this club. Fact!.

 

hahahaha thats like something out of Gladiators/Wolf Man

 

Celtic got it from Conor McGregor.

 

Completely lost my * when he scored that goal vs Aberdeen. The quality of it + the celebration and his obvious affinity with the fans made it doubly perfect.

 

I absolutely lost it as well when that one hit the back of the net. Great moment to put it mildly. I have to say I can easily see Tierney pulling a Broony and staying with Celtic long term. He is the obvious one to take over as captain as well when Brown does eventually retire.

 

Sadly I cant. There will come a point where he will be wasted here. That or his agent will remind him of the huge commision he can get and succeed in souring his affinity with the club (See Raoila with Donnaruma who was AC Milan to the core) by promising bigger wages and prestige.

As for the goal even more sweeter it topped off shearing the Sheep

 

Brendan Rodgers believes that Kieran Tierney is a Scotland captain in waiting, whether it is now or a few years down the line.

Tierney skippered his country in a friendly against Holland when Malky MacKay took charge of the national team and he has also worn the armband for Celtic this season in Brown’s absence.

Scott Brown’s decision to step down from international football means that the role has been vacated again at national team level, although Darren Fletcher remains in the squad.

For Rodgers, though, there is no doubt that Tierney will inevitably go on at one point to take the position for both club and country.

“He’s an experienced young player now,” said Rodgers. “I had a chat with him the other day, this is the next stage in his development, he’s played over 100-games now for Celtic and now you start to grow as a young man and take on that responsibility.

“He’s one that has those qualities because he’s very inspirational. He’s been in the shadow of Brownie since he broke into the squad and he’s learned some terrific traits, I’m sure, off him.

“Because of the type personality he is it wouldn’t be a concern but, of course, there is a big responsibility in captain Celtic and captaining your national team.

“If it wasn’t this time then I’m sure at some point it will happen in the future.

“If you’re saying can he do it, then yeah he could. There’s no question about that.

“I think he’s a great ambassador for Scotland as well, Kieran, because how he prepares himself, how he works every day, he’s a selfless kid as well.

“He has availability and that’s very important as well, that you’ve got players that captain teams that are available and play games.

“I know he’d be very proud of that, I’m sure, but Alex [McLeish] will have a few candidates he’ll look at.”

Rodgers also believes that Tierney has matured both on and off the pitch in the time that he has been in charge of Celtic.

Tierney was one of the players who caught Rodgers’ eye very early on with the former Liverpool boss observing in one of his very early press conferences that the Scotland full-back had the capability to play at the very top level.

Since then he believes that Tierney has kicked on even further.

“When I came in in that first week and in particular the first three or four days I could see his enthusiasm for the game, that’s one thing that strikes you straight away, his natural enthusiasm for football,” said Rodgers.

“He’s a player that you don’t realise how quick he is. He is the quickest player in our squad, we did measurements in Dubai over various distances and Kieran is the quickest.

“So what I’ve seen is his enthusiasm, you see his physicality, he looks a strong boy, a robust boy now. He’s said himself and a few of the guys have mentioned when he came in he struggled in games at times for fitness but he works to a high intensity every day.

“He’s got stronger, his game understanding has got better. He’s played in various positions and I like to do that, especially with young players to give them a different feel for different areas on the pitch.

“He has a best position, of course, at left-back but he can play on the left-side of a back three and like he’s shown at Scotland he can play at right-back.

“So he’s just one of those players that will be 7 or 8 out of ten every game he plays.”

Brown and Tierney are cut from a similar cloth in terms of their heart-on-the-sleeve approach. Both players appear immune from plunging temperatures judging by their choice of outdoor attire, or rather the lack of it, but it is the more mature elements of Brown’s game that Tierney has looked to emulate.

“Thankfully he’s got Scott at the latter part of his career and not at the early stages,” joked Rodgers. “I still don’t think he [Kieran] would have walked in with a red Mohican!

“Browny’s at what you would call the mature end of his career. So he’s learned a lot from him really. He’s obviously looked up to him when he was just a supporter of the club and then through the academy. He’s seen someone there who’s a real shining light.

“Since he’s come into the team he’s obviously looked at his habits, the professionalism and he’s just jumped on that straight away.”

 

That’s really * news for you mate. Will it be a gradual transition?

 

Interesting that he’s the quickest in the team. I’d have thought Sinclair.

 

I'd have said wee Jimmy or the thumb.

 

Id have thought Gamboa

 

Aye Forrest is a great shout, Gamboa as well!

Griff I don’t think is really quick, just quite fast and has the ability to get 2/3 yards on a man

 

I would have said Forrest!

 

Agree with you. He reminds me of Bale as it is.

 

Would be interesting to see their times and the distances.

I would imagine some others like Forrest, Gamboa and Sinclair are probably the quickest over 10-20 yards but Tierney maybe over 20-50 yards would be too strong for them, they probably already start to slow just as he'd be hitting top speed.

Tierneys probably near the top over short distance, maybe the best over middle distance and probably near the top again over long distance so would be the overall winner. Compared to say Musonda who might be near the top over short distance but not any further probably even the likes of Jozo and Bitton would beat him over longer distance and vice versa.

 

As far as I know his agent is his dad and he's as Celtic daft as Kieran.

There may come a point when that changes and some agent with no affinity to the club eyes a big payday tries to push a move through but until that happens I'm quite confident that he loves it where he is.

There's obviously a limit to wages we can pay but whatever that limit is Tierney deserves to be paid it. He's been consistent on the pitch and not allowed any speculation around him to affect his game or mindset. Contrast that with the likes of Dembele...