KID KT THOUGHT ABOUT CELTS EXIT

Wonder Bhoy says he thought about quitting Parkhead

KIERAN Tierney has revealed that it did not all come easy for him as he went from Hoops kid to the club’s academy posterboy.

The 20-year-old was described in some quarters as the best left-back in the country following his midweek display against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a performance which came on the back of penning a bumper six-year deal with the club.

However, while Tierney has been a mainstay since breaking into the senior team under Ronny Deila, he has admitted that there was a point as he looked to turn professional that he feared he might not

make it at Celtic. There was a time when I wasn’t getting a game,” he said. “At 14 or 15, we went to the school that Celtic sent you to.

“It was at that stage when Scotland starts coming about. I never got picked for Scotland. A lot of times when you’re not in the Scotland squad, you’re not really playing club football either.

“Times like that were very hard. It was getting near the end of the school term and a lot of them had heard about their contracts.

“Me and a couple of others hadn’t. It was me and Aaron Comrie, who I will hopefully be playing against on Saturday. Neither of us heard anything until very, very late on. We got a deal in the end, but the others got a longer-term deal.

“They got three-year deals at the start and we got one year. At times like that, you are looking at other options, whether it is to go away working or try and find another team. So youth football wasn’t all plain sailing for me. For a few years, I wasn’t getting a game.

“It made me work harder than ever. I was more hungry to get a new deal with Celtic, try and get on the same deal as my team-mates and try to get game time.

“A few times both of us had to step down and play with the younger ones just to get game time. We really worked hard and broke our way in eventually.

“I was doing gym work and football training but it was the way I was doing it. At that age there is only a certain amount you can do.”

And Tierney has also thanked Brendan Rodgers for sticking by him when he first arrived rather than opting for experience as he sought to take the club back into the group stages of the Champions League.

“He has been brilliant,” he said. “To sign two deals under him in a year-and-a-bit is unreal. The faith he put in me right from the start was amazing. I had only played one full season at first-team level and he could have brought in someone more experienced, so I have a lot to thank him for.”