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Kieran Tierney Didn’t Have To Worry About A Celtic Fan Backlash Like Rodgers’.

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Kieran Tierney has spoken this week about his fears that his time at Celtic might have been tarnished by his decision to sign for Arsenal. He had nothing to worry about, not even when taking the reaction Rodgers’ departure into consideration.

There are two key differences between what happened with Rodgers and what happened with Kieran, and here’s the first of them. Kieran never lied to us. He talked, always, like a guy who was living the dream but also with one eye ever on his wider career.

We knew Kieran was likely to leave at some point and this club would benefit from a record fee when he finally did. The more I listened to him talk about his plans and the way he saw the game, the more I came to realise we would not hang onto him. Football was his job, and playing for Celtic was a pleasure but he wanted to play against the best every week.

Rodgers constantly bullshitted about Celtic. He lied repeatedly to the fans. Even on the weekend before his departure he was denying that it was in the offing although everyone at Celtic knew full well that it was. It was all the badge kissing and pledges of allegiance from Rodgers that made what happened hard to take.

And the second thing is that it was the manner in which he chose to do it, and not just the timing but the slinking out of town like a thief in the night. He didn’t even bother to talk to the players before he left, and let’s not forget that he did it on the eve of a massive cup game and that he took the whole of the backroom team with him.

Kieran left us £25 million richer. Rodgers left us in the shit. No sooner was he at Leicester having well and truly screwed us but was pledging to die for them. A bullshit artist par excellence, that’s all Rodgers really was when it came down to it.

Rodgers left us because he was a selfish man who had clashed with another selfish man. Their egos got in the way of what was in the best interests of Celtic, and it’s really as simple as that. Neither man gave a toss what damage it did to the club. I knew he would leave after that clash of egos went public, but I expected him to give us to the end of the season and allow the board the proper time to find a replacement. His conduct was disgraceful.

Kieran saw a chance to play for a top, top club and couldn’t realistically afford to hang around in case that was the best opportunity he was going to have. Rodgers could easily have sat out the rest of the season and taken stock then … Leicester was not the biggest club he could have gotten, and his haste to get out the door shows how toxic things had become.

But his problem is that he has never acknowledged that the toxicity went both ways, that he had become difficult to deal with behind the scenes. This is not a new thing for Rodgers; he has done it at every club including at Liverpool. There are probably behind the scenes issues at Leicester, unless they just grant his every wish and whim.

Kieran, on the other hand, was a young kid with a career choice in front of him and he did right by himself and the club both. I never held the least bit of anger about what he did and I don’t think anyone did. He did it the right way. He did it for the right reasons.

Celtic fans respect him for that. Rodgers … not so much.

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  • A Johnston says:

    Good article, however I have to disagree about Tierney. He claimed that he could be a one club man, namely Celtic. He left for one reason and one reason only, Money.

    I for one wouldn’t put him in the same bracket as Rodgers but he still let us down big time.

  • Gerrard Duffin says:

    Ifmaddisonleaves
    Will Rodgers

  • Gerrard Duffin says:

    Tierney shouidgototop4club

  • Fat8mike says:

    Chris kamara said today in an interview, the dream was to play for Middlesbrough (division 3) the goal was to play for Leeds (top of division 1) and I managed to do both in my career. Tierney lived the dream and deserved to chase the goal. Rodgers always seemed like the club was a means to his end in rebuilding his reputation and jumped the first chance he got. English football is a fickle and arrogant place where badge kissing and faux loyalty gets you ahead, I’m sure he’s found since Scotland isn’t so much..

  • Stephen McAdam says:

    Nah bs Tierney was a ” badge kisser” cant have it both ways! Charlie Nicholas was never really forgiven tho left in a better way than Tierney and wasnt s badge kisser! Stop trying to rewrite history, he played up to green brigade big time knowing all along he was off, and you even stated he wanted to go the year before to Everton, no issue with him going but playing up to the fans like that is bs They then think yiur goong nowhere! Especially young fans which we all were once and I remember it well well admired those players to us they were like film stars , so give us leace on Tierney! We saw it all for ourselves it was bs The real Celtic men were never ” badge kisser” The Mcstay’s, Mcgrain’s and Aitken’s and now McGregor and Jamesy Forrest to as tho certain clowns always picked on him he could easily got a bigger pay cheque with his form few seasons ago all you need is a agent! These guys were real Celts , Tierney to me just a jas that played for us for couple years , let’s leave it there and never want him to return either

  • Stephen McAdam says:

    Just a guy thst played for us I meant,good luck to him but leave it there

  • Mark B says:

    Agree with many here. 1 Rodgers was incrediblely brilliant for us and had the Board backed him we would have one ten and maybe made a tiny impact on Europe. They let him down and he left. The manner of his leaving was poor I agree. But Three trebles and the basis for the fourth is incredible, truly. Think about it it’s sensational.
    Tierney was like most he went for the money. I get it but he is not a McGrain Burns McNeil Johnstone Lennox Chalmers McStay these are Celtic legends. They stayed. Tierney is a great player but sadly for him will never be a Celtic legend. McGregor and Forest now they are heading to be legends in my book. Why isn’t playing for Celtic and earning a million a year and more not enough? Think about it for a minute. It’s sheer greed.

  • Tom Foolery says:

    Tierney DID get plenty of abuse from a section of our support when he left. Personally i’m thankful to Rodgers for the unprecedented domestic run of success he brought to our club. The people who took his leaving real sore where the gullibles among the bloggers who were claiming ‘Brendan is here for the 10 and beyond’ and the gullibles among their followers who believed the mince they were being fed. Let’s be honest, all managers at high profile clubs do the same thing. No manager when asked about interest from another club comes out and says ‘aye im off at the first good offer’. When managers move into a new job they talk a load of shite when they start praising their new club, directors, fans etc….It happens all over football in every league in every country. If you still think managers tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth then i’ve got a bridge i’d like to sell you for a reasonable price.

  • Stevie says:

    Got to disagree James. Rodgers brought great domestic success although sneaking off through the night was shabby to say the least, he could have shown more class. And yes, with the McGrain story etc, he is just a bullshitter and a self promoter. He was working with his hands tied behind his back working with Lawwell, the man who haggled and lost McGinn over a few hundred grand then signed Shved for a couple of million off his own back. Rodgers was always going to go and who can blame him? Tierney however, declared his love of Celtic, pandered to the Green Brigade and jumped at the first opportunity to the first club to show him an interest. No better than Nicholas. Kenny Dalglish grew up a Rangers fan and stuck around a lot longer and showed more loyalty. I’d be happy if Tierney never pulled on a Celtic shirt again.

  • Johnny Green says:

    Kieran Tierney was a great Celtic player who loved the Club. Unfortunately he was also an intelligent player who had ambitions beyond our parochial league, a league that would only have stunted his progress and limited his potential ability. He did the right thing for his own future and in doing so also put a very healthy 25M into the Celtic coffers, while once again enhancing Celtic’s credibility in the International transfer market. Keiran should have no regrets and I was glad to see him enter the field of play last night as a substitute after his most recent injury. Let’s hope he moves on to an even bigger Club and Celtic reap more rewards with the sell on fee and publicity.

    • SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS says:

      Agree J G.

      One of the reasons Tierney left was because he was pissed off being kicked up and down the park every week with no protection from the Scottish Refs.

      Football was his chosen profession with a short life span. Perhaps he felt he had to take the next offer before he had a career ending injury playing against the Agricultural hammer throwers up here.

      While he played for Celtic he gave his all, and then some, in every game he played. The service he provided to our front men was a contributory part of their own success and instrumental in allowing them to move on at significant profit to Celtic.

      He did well for us and himself. I don’t begrudge him his choice in the least. Maybe if our Board was more protective of our players maybe things would be different.

  • Bob (original) says:

    Did we not get something like £6M compensation from Leicester for Rodgers’ moonlight flit?

    Comparing Tierney and Rodgers is ‘apples and pears’.

    Yes, like most, I was shocked, appalled, etc at the swift exit of Rodgers.

    But, as time has passed I actually have more respect for him.

    Yes, he spectacularly overachieved domestically – with the trophies to prove it.
    Yes, he played the PR game, saying all the right things because he maintained a particularly image.
    Yes, he is ruthlessly ambitious and will do whatever it takes.

    And, yes, he has some set of gonads to simply fix his focus on his next move – and leave without so much as a look over his shoulder at the personal loss of another Treble on his CV.

    And that old adage still rings true: if you want loyalty – get a dog. 🙂

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