A DREAM TURNING INTO REALITY:
Tierney honoured to be touted as a future captain of Celtic after his stand-in success
COME Friday evening at Firhill, it will assuredly be back in its customary place. No one is anticipating the captain’s armband leaving Scott Brown’s upper arm any time soon but, increasingly, its long-term destination seems certain.
It wasn’t just Kieran Tierney’s 40-yard strike in the five-goal rout of Kilmarnock on Tuesday night that lit up his first competitive game as Celtic skipper.
Playing in the unusual role of centre-half, the 20-year-old made interceptions and pinged passes from deep with the adroitness of a seasoned veteran.
Was anyone surprised? Certainly not Brendan Rodgers, who you suspect would have eulogised all night about the display of an academy poster boy who is yet to reveal a single weakness in his armoury.
When the question of Tierney’s long-term captaincy credentials was raised, the Northern Irishman replied: ‘He’s made for it, there’s no doubt about that.’
Not a soul inside Celtic Park would disagree. Not even the ever-modest Tierney — a player whose extraordinary rise over the past two years has in no way impinged upon his profound decency.
Even after Rodgers’ flattering remarks were being relayed to him, Tierney’s responses were filled with boundless respect for Brown — a man whose race still has many years to run.
But as a lifetime fan of a club that entrusted Jimmy McGrory, Billy McNeill, Neil Lennon and the like to lead from the front, you’d better believe that following such names one day sets his pulse racing.
‘That means everything,’ said Tierney when he learned of Rodgers’ remarks.
‘I think if you asked every Celtic fan in the world: “Would you like to captain the team?” then they’d all say they would. ‘To hear the manager say that is just brilliant for me.
‘I just need to keep level-headed and take everything as it comes. But Broony is here for a good few years yet.’
It was instructive to hear Rodgers talk of what skippering the side in a pre-season friendly at Sunderland a couple of weeks back has meant to Tierney.
Despite there being no real stakes in the game, he seemingly treated the occasion — and the honour of wearing the armband — as if it was a Champions League match.
Having never previously carried out those duties at any level, it’s something he is evidently going to have to get used to.
‘I didn’t ever captain youth teams or anything like that, so it’s new to me,’ he explained.
‘The first time I really did it was the pre-season game down in Sunderland.
‘That meant a lot, it definitely was a huge honour just walking the team out. I then did my speech in the huddle which was unbelievable.
‘Like I say, it’s every fan’s dream.
‘I’ve now done it in a competitive game, too, and hopefully it’s not the last time.
‘This is a historic club that’s had some great, great captains.
‘Obviously right now is one of the greatest in Scott Brown. I look up to him in every single way and he helps me on and off the pitch every day. He’s a total leader.’
Sitting in the stand due to a suspension, Brown would have seen the folly in Kilmarnock standing off Tierney as he moved towards goal in the 65th minute. What followed was nothing short of staggering. From 40 yards, he unleashed a volley that Jamie MacDonald wouldn’t have saved had it been travelling at half the velocity. The armband and a goal of the season contender from a centre-half — all in a night’s work. ‘When you’re in the centre of the park it’s easier to get shots away with your left foot,’ said Tierney. ‘I had a bit of space and just thought to myself: “Why not?” ‘It’s definitely the best goal I’ve ever scored. ‘I just felt like I’d hit it sweet. In fact, I didn’t even feel it connecting with my foot at all! ‘I hadn’t ever done it before so I didn’t know how it felt to strike a ball like that. But I was buzzing to get it.’ Asked why his wand of a left-foot wasn’t detailed to take more free-kicks, the player’s response was typically self-effacing.
‘We have so many players who are good at set-pieces,’ he said.
‘I sometimes need to remember I’m a defender. Maybe it was just a fluke on Tuesday night.
‘I don’t think I’ll score many goals like that.
‘From the left-back role, I’m up and down the park more and putting in crosses.
‘But from the centre of the park it’s a bit easier to get a shot away.’
Celtic’s progress to the quarterfinals of the cup they won last November was the bottom line for Rodgers, but the personnel who got them there in style was eye-catching.
At 20, Tierney was the senior member of the back four. His central partner, Kristoffer Ajer, is still just 19 — the same age as the fleet-footed left-back Calvin Miller. Anthony Ralston, the right-back who scored a thumping header, is just 18.
Ahead of them were another pair of 19-year-olds. Eboue Kouassi impressed before succumbing to
I just need to keep a level head and take it as it comes
injury before half-time. Kundai Benyu, the summer capture from Ipswich, impressed in flashes before running out of steam.
Such was the dominance of these boys over Kilmarnock’s men, you wondered how long it will be before they are providing regular company for Tierney in the first-team.
‘I rate them all very highly and so does the manager,’ said the stand-in skipper.
‘he has faith in them and so do all the boys in the team.
‘There were lots of players in the team for the game who were under the age of 21. That’s great for Scottish football and great for us.
‘They all did a job and showed to the manager he can trust them, which is the sign of a good team.
‘You see what they did when they came in. We looked like a team that had played lots of games together.
‘That’s what you need as a young boy here.’