Former Celtic defender Kieran Tierney made himself an icon of the club but his career could have turned out much differently had he not impressed Ronny Deila in training at Lennoxtown.
Tierney is the latest guest on Si Ferry’s Open Goal YouTube channel, joining Kevin Kyle and Paul Slane for a chat about his career at the Bhoys and at Arsenal.
As usual, it’s an entertaining and candid conversation with Ferry teasing out class stories from the former Hoops full-back.
One of the interesting topics that came up was how Tierney made it into the Celtic first-team.
The defender explains that he wasn’t set to be offered terms with his boyhood club as a teenager before Motherwell enquired about him and offered him the chance to play games for their development sides.
That led to Celtic reaching out but Tierney was still on the fringes of the action for the U20s and first-team.
That was until, by chance, he was available to play as an extra man in a training session at Lennoxtown with the senior side.
Tierney told Open Goal: “They eventually gave me a deal, I was buzzing. When I was 17, people ahead of me were making squads and playing games but one day they all travelled with the 20s.
“John Collins came in and needed another body for training, I went up and Deila loved me, after the session, he shook my hand and all that.
“That was the start of the season and by Christmas, I was training with them every day. Ronny Deila said to me you’re going to start against Partick Thistle, but I broke my leg before I could start.”
Tierney would eventually go on to make his debut under Deila against Dundee in April 2015, becoming a regular the next season and keeping his place in the team until his exit to Arsenal last summer.
Deila didn’t quite make himself a legend of Celtic, struggling in cup competitions and in Europe, but he delivered league titles during his tenure and oversaw the development of eventual key talents like Callum McGregor and Tierney.
He’s an important part of our nine-in-a-row run and, if we make ten, hopefully, we manage to bring him back for a visit so everyone can show their appreciation.
With Tierney on his way to super-stardom in England, it sounds like he’ll always be forever grateful to Deila for giving him his big chance.
In other news, David Marshall is set to join Derby County after links to Celtic.
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