There were better players than me when I was a kid but I ran faster, worked harder and jumped higher, now I’m ready for a final against pal Kieran
BETFRED CUP
IT’S a friendship that was formed as kids kicking a ball around the playground of Our Lady’s High School.
Chris Cadden and Kieran Tierney even share the same hairdresser.
But the Motherwell midfielder has told his Celtic counterpart to settle for becoming the best of enemies during Sunday’s Betfred League Cup Final.
Cadden’s quiet rise to prominence in recent seasons has been a contrast to the meteoric progress of a player whose promotion to Scotland skipper is a far cry from their days as quality street kids in Lanarkshire.
But the 21-year-old Fir Park powerhouse is adamant there won’t be any banter or pre-match text messages ahead of a clash at Hampden that he’s convinced will end with him claiming the bragging rights.
Cadden said: “I was a year ahead of Kieran at school and through football you get to know each other. He lives around the corner from me. I dropped him a text the other day but I won’t be speaking to him before the Final that’s for sure.
“I played against him when we played in the youth teams but he didn’t get to play for the school team. I always knew he played for Celtic but didn’t know much else about him.
“He is a good mate of mine. We will chat but will I be noising him up before Sunday or during the game? No, I don’t think so. I just keep myself to myself. I just do what I do.”
The question as to whether Stephen Robinson’s side can bring Celtic’s 64-match unbeaten domestic run to a halt will be answered at Hampden but Cadden believes Motherwell’s run to the Final is proof they aren’t facing mission impossible.
He said: “You have to beat everyone at the end of the day
“We just took the draws as they came and every round we have been brilliant – in the Aberdeen and Rangers games we were fantastic. If we go out and play the way we did against them there is no reason why we can’t win.
“We are looking at Celtic and thinking, ‘Someone has to beat them.’ They aren’t going to go through their full history without being beaten. Why not us? We can go full of confidence. We can go out there and do it.
“I said before the semi-final against Rangers we couldn’t just make up the numbers and it is the same again here.”
Cadden was beyond commiseration when he attended the 2011 Scottish Cup Final 3-0 defeat to Celtic as a fan with dad Stephen and brother Nicky, who is with Livingston.
It was a cup final experience the Scotland Under-21 kid does not want to inflict on a support who have had their share of that big-day losing feeling. He said: “It was gutting. Me, my dad and Nicky went. It was very disappointing to lose 3-0 so we know it will be disappointing for the fans if we get beat again.
“But on the other side if we win it will be unbelievable.
“If you think of the achievement as well – I don’t really remember the last time Motherwell beat Aberdeen, Rangers and then Celtic in the Final. It will be unbelievable.”
There’s a humility about Cadden that has been a constant in every step of his progress at Motherwell and he highlighted the roles his mum and dad have played in a career that continues to climb every hurdle.
He said: “They have been massive, the two of them. You don’t understand until you get a
wee bit older. Just going to training on Tuesday nights and they are watching you in the rain and cold – you don’t appreciate that until you get a bit older.
“They have been massive for me and Nicky, I think Nicky would say that too. My dad could be pretty harsh after games but it’s good to get a bit of criticism. The two of them have been brilliant for me.
“My dad always wanted us to do well at school, he used to go a bit mental if we were not studying for exams. But Nicky and I from a young age just wanted to play football and try to have a career, which we have worked hard to do. My dad made sure we were all okay at school, just as a back-up plan.
“I was always a decent player but there were a lot of better players than me when I was 15. I worked hard, I made sure I worked hard in the gym.
“Maybe if you are not as technical as someone else, I made sure I could run faster than them, I could run more than them, I could try to jump higher than them. I made sure I could do ‘the three things’ as the gaffer likes to call it. I made sure I could do them well.”
Cadden is aiming to emulate Motherwell’s Scottish Cup-winning class of 1991 and take his place in a club hall of fame who have lifted a major trophy at Hampden.
He said: “You still get people talking to you about that – they are legends aren’t they. It’s a wee bit more incentive to get out there and try to get a result.
“It’s a small club and these things don’t happen a lot for Motherwell. If we can do it, it will be fantastic.”
Motherwell will have the talent of freescoring Louis Moult in their locker when they set about Celtic on Sunday and Cadden insists he could be the difference between defeat or glory.
He said: “Louis has been fantastic. You’re only as good as your strikers. The defence can do everything they can and the midfielders can do all they can but the strikers are there to run the game. “If they don’t you are not going to win many games. “Look at those strikes on Saturday against Aberdeen, they were different class. When you have a player like Louis up front that gives you confidence as well – he only needs one chance and he’ll 100 per cent take it.”