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Celtic Had No Chance Of Getting Tierney Unless It Was On The Very Last Day.

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So, the Tierney story has finally reached its conclusion. I have to admit to a certain amount of relief. It was a deal which didn’t have much appeal for me, because I suspected that it would only be a loan deal on a short-term basis and I generally don’t like those although I see the need for at least one of them to get us through the injury crisis and he’d have been a more than adequate player to do that.

Still, my initial view on it was correct; this was only realistic if it went to the last day. I’m not convinced by the idea that Tierney only wanted to come home. He wanted to play. He wants out of Arsenal, and had Newcastle or another top club came in he would have gone there on a permanent deal and would never have looked back.

At the start of this window there was a chance Arsenal would keep him on. Why wouldn’t they? We know that not only is he a great left back but that he can play on the right and in central defence as well. He’s a wonderful asset to have … and Arteta has scandalously misused or underused him. I have been pretty shocked at his treatment, to be honest.

Who knows why Arteta doesn’t fancy him? Is it personal? It certainly does seem to be, and I am amazed the Arsenal board has allowed him to have a footballer of this quality wither on the vine. Their valuations on a player who isn’t getting game-time are patently ridiculous though, and part of that, of course, is that English football is quite mad.

It’s because of the madness of English football that I always thought that this was unlikely.

Our chance was that he was still tied to Arsenal with the clock almost run down, and with no options available to him or to the club itself, I thought that was be our moment. I actually didn’t see any club coming in for him; I thought that opportunity might still be there right to the end.

Sociedad seems like a strange move for him to be honest, but he will play for sure and in a top league against some of the best players in the world. If he can give a good account of himself there will be plenty of interested clubs come the summer. He’s smart.

For Celtic, I can’t blame us for this one. We don’t even know that Celtic was genuinely interested, but in this case I can defend them completely for allowing it go to the final week, because the later it was the more chance we stood of getting it over the line.

That a club from Spain has come in at just about the last knockings was a risk, but there wasn’t much choice for us in taking it because unless Kieran was determined to come home, he was always going to wait to see who else was interested before a decision was made.

This one is now closed. We stick a pin in it and we can move on.

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3 comments

  • Johnno says:

    Was always a longshot James, and one I didn’t take much heed to, even if it would have helped overcome a huge issue that remains within our potential CL squad, along with the SPFL now.
    Surprised no real suitors came in for Tierney within the EPL, so think Spain remains a reasonable destination.
    A good season for Tierney in Spain offers up far more opportunities to himself than a return to ourselves ever could.
    A realistic return for Tierney to ourselves, will only potentially happen when he is well past his best imo.
    Then the question could well be, do we really want him to return?
    That doesn’t look like a question that will get answered in this window for now anyway.
    Looking like we are really going to struggle to fill our quota of 8 Scottish homegrown players for this season CL squad campaign, which is a ridiculous situation to find ourselves in

  • Michael Clark says:

    Tierney’s off to the La liga and another fruitless hope dissapears so onto the next one. The amount of waisted speculation on this saga was frightening because it was never going to happen. Celtic would never have paid his wages so why would he come back, it all boils down to money it always does. Luis Palma is supposedly considering coming to Celtic but I’ll believe it when he’s wearing the Jersey because like the rest it will most likely collapse. We have a crisis coming our way, its called the Champions league

  • John Gow says:

    Yeah James stick a pin in it and move on. To the next pin that you want to stick. Honestly never encountered a guy like you who goes on about things then backtracks when things don’t happen. Never mind, you’ve always got the board to rant on about but not on CL nights at home as you won’t be there supporting the TEAM! You are so boring (and far up yourself) it’s untrue. Problem for me is that you do come up with good points but then spoil that with your hyperbolic rants. I’ve never forgiven you for your ignorant utterances of Ange Postecoglu. Why should I when you never learn but I suppose it earns you corn and you complain about others doing likewise. Love the way you go on about the board knowing zilch and you do. Laughable.

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