There are a lot of stories which never seem to die. For a long time, it was the saga of James McCarthy. You remember that one? God, that one lasted a while. I always knew he would end up at Celtic one day. I only wish that it had turned out better than it did.
The reasons the McCarthy deal didn’t work are numerous. He’s too slow for the team. He’s not ever going to be fully fit. The thing is, even those of us who banged the drum for the move to happen, and who got excited every time it was mooted, knew these things. But we figured that he might have one last big campaign in him, one last hurrah to make us ponder what we’d been missing for years. That it wasn’t to be really should not have surprised us though.
Kieran Tierney is the transfer story that won’t die now. It rears its head every single year. It never comes to pass. He’s only 26. There is, in theory, plenty of time left for him to come home to Celtic, and for us to get his best years, which would be amazing considering he was supposed to spend them in England at the very top of the football pyramid.
So why hasn’t it happened? A combination of things. Tierney is definitely good enough to play at that level, and he would certainly vastly improve our left flank. And yet I am resistant to the idea. More than that. I positively loathe the idea for the same reasons he hasn’t been a resounding success at Arsenal, for the same reasons McCarthy never stood a chance here.
Kieran Tierney is injury prone. This is just a fact, this isn’t speculative.
In his career so far, Kieran Tierney has had no fewer than seven injuries which have kept him out for longer than a month. Two of those injuries kept him out for more than three months. Two more of them for more than two. Kieren Tierney has 124 appearances for Arsenal in five seasons. That sounds impressive. But he’s been on the sidelines, through injuries of various sorts, for what comes to a total of 52 games. You can’t sign someone who has spent a third of his time at his current club sitting in the stand wrapped in cotton wool.
Two of his long-term injuries were actually in his final years at Celtic; one putting him out for 77 days and 17 matches and the other putting him out for even longer; 85 days but one less game. That’s still almost an entire season of football lost to him and to us.
Tierney would cost too much for a player with his injury profile. He would cost too much in wages. He would cost too much in the transfer fee. People talk about him coming back here to “finish his career” as if there’s merit in that, as if it’s something we should be grateful for; an ageing version of Tierney, past his best, topping up his pension pot and kissing the badge. Count me out. I like my memories of the guy just the way they are. I don’t want to think of Tierney as a source of frustration; “Oh surprise, surprise, Kieran’s injured again …”
This would be a huge drain on resources to not much obvious benefit. An upgrade on Greg Taylor? When he’s fit, yeah, sure. But there are options other than Kieran Tierney to take that role, so I don’t get all the hype over this idea as though he was the only left back in the world.
In any case, I’ve long said that Greg Taylor’s biggest problem is that his name isn’t Kieran Tierney. Bring Tierney back though … and get used to seeing more Greg Taylor in the team whilst the real thing nurses his wounds in the stand.
Tierney is certainly not the player he was when he left here; too many months on the sidelines, too many long-term knocks, takes something out of a player, and can you imagine the horror of getting a pale shadow of the footballer he was, and a section of our fan-base turning him into a whipping boy? It’s too awful to contemplate without a good drink in you.
I know this deal would be on the wish-lists of many fans, but it’s bling by another name. The club owes us a left back, and I expect that we’ll get one in the summer, a high quality footballer who makes us a better team. That, after all, is the objective when you are signing a footballer, and too much of the hype over this is about “coming home” and “the club he loves” … none of that matters a damn and nor should it. Take the romance out of this, it has nothing to do with the decision that Brendan Rodgers would ultimately have to make here.
He will think about one thing only; does this make us stronger? And that’s not just about the odd game or two when he might be in the line-up. The boss has to think bigger than that, about the broad sweep of a season and ask if the cost would be worth the benefits and sometimes those calculations will mess up the Roy of the Rovers fairytale. If Kieran Tierney costs us so much that we have to sacrifice elsewhere, and at the end of it we don’t even get a guy who we can count on to stay fit, then that’s not just a bad deal, it’s a stupid one.
And it would be a stupid one, because as with McCarthy we all know this. We all look at this time at Arsenal and fear that this is a kid who’s just not going to be fully fit, that we might see one of those players who retires at 32 so that he doesn’t have to live in constant pain the rest of his life, and nobody would hold it against him if he did.
Here’s the thing too; I would be against this deal even if we got a fully-fit Kieran Tierney, and for the other reason I’ve outlined. It would be too much money sunk into one position when we need to think more broadly than that. I don’t see how we could justify it from a financial standpoint.
An emotional one, sure, but as one of the long-time members of the James McCarthy fan-club, I can tell you that it doesn’t help, that it clouds your judgement. The fulfilment of that dream, his and ours, hasn’t done this club one bit of good. Neither would this.
The idea of him comin back tae CP if he was fully fit and no injury prone, wouldnae even be entertained by the player or his club. His constant and unforunate injury problems are the only reason this is gettin banded about. Tho ye could imagine it bein the type of stunt lawwell and Co would try and come away with, in an attempt tae appease and patronise the Celtic support. Nae harm tae KT btw, tho this should be all it is, a rumour.
could we no ask Danny Mc Grain am sure he could pull a strip on ..
I have to agree with you on this one. Like most Celtic fans, I loved KT’s time at our club and he was a fantastic left back.
He got his big move and brought a great sum of money to our club’s ever expanding and untouched coffers!
His career since leaving us , has been blighted by far too many injuries and unfortunately he seems to be injury prone. As you say, it wouldn’t surprise any of us, if he had to retire a little earlier, than even he may have anticipated.
We’d all love a fully fit and fresh Tierney in our team, but the young, outstanding talent we all remember, is not that same guy now. The costs would be monumental and allied to the aforementioned injury issues, make it a non starter !
I feel sorry for G Taylor, as he’s undoubtedly, like Scales, a popular whipping boy for many of our support, which I don’t agree with! He’s not, nor never been K Tierney…he has many faults, but he can never be faulted for his effort and energy when he plays.
This summer will be hugely important, for a variety of reasons. Mainly to see what sort of transfer kitty our manager receives and whether any interference from a certain chairman, is negligible.
We have an elite manager in charge of our club and I can only see us getting stronger under his leadership. I appreciate this may not be the opinion of everyone, but if he gets us over the line with this title, and also secures the cup, he will deserve a lot of credit, in my eyes, for negotiating a hugely difficult season !
This seems to be more of a trait accepted and plied by Sevco rather than Celtic…
They seemed to do it with a few of them that ran away to to The English Hills when ‘Rangers’ as they were known then booted the bucket and went to the football fires of Hell…
Then they crawled back to The New Club that plays outta the same Liebrox –
But in any case Kieran Tierney would be a stick on target for the thuggery brigade of Scottish Football and would be afforded completely zero protection from The Cheats with Whistles, Flags and Monitors and would be constantly maimed and booted to a full time locus on The Parkhead treatment table…
Would he even wanna come back to that ?
I know that I bloody well wouldn’t for sure !
I’d love to see Kieran back at Celtic especially on a free transfer. I believe he would love to finish his career at Celtic too.
The SPFL is not as physically challenging as the EPL.
He will most likely hang around at Arsenal for the 2 remaining years and pick up a few million more, who can blame him.
100% agree. Only way would be on a free transfer and pay if fit type contract.
No sorry, we sshould better than taking a now overpriced injury pron player back. True Celt and massive contributor, if he wants to come back that much then it needs to be schieved from his side. He certainly dosent need the money and i would charge him by the hour for physio. You make your choices in life.
GET HIM SIGNED!!!!
Have to say I’d take him back but I also fully agree with your points. Defintiely don’t think we should be paying Arsenal for him but with his contract being up next summer I believe the potential for a return on a free would be something I would entertain.
I’d possibly say the club should look for a contract similar to that of Saha when he moved from manchester united to everton & went on a paid when your fit to play contract.
I think the biggest benefit having KT back would be his passion for the club being in & around the dressing room.
More than aware I am looking through rose tinted glasses & KT wouldn’t consider a return on those terms as at the end of the day he’s a professional footballer with a limited length of career & as he should be aiming to make as much money for himself & his family in that time.
Greg Taylor’s biggest problem isn’t his name. Its his height. The goals we are losing at crosses to our left hand post has been dire all year. On a similar point at the Dundee game Kyogo was covering the near post at corners and Taylor left to mix it in the six yard box. Fair enough given both players stature but who decided that Ideh when he replaced Kyogo should take up that position at corners. Marking nobody and ended up with an aresehole winder slicing the ball into his own net.
Question we have had this problem all season with no resolution. What actual tactics are we working on at Lennoxtown to combat this continuing problem
Ideh Eh Idah even
Providing we got KT for a reasonable price, anything south of 10M, and he was prepared to play for much less wages than he is on, then I would have him back in a minute.
He’d be our top earner which would be fine if he could stay fit but he can’t. I don’t know what his next move is if Sociedad don’t bid for him. There’s a fair chance he’ll come back to Celtic, he’s certainly better than Taylor.
All depends on Tierney. What does he want? What options does he have?
If a deal could be made that suited both parties, subject to a medical, we’d be singing from the rooftops welcoming home a prodigal son.
One thing I can assure you of. If a player aint happy with his working and living environment every setback is a milestone to recover from.
If a player is delighted with his workplace and seeting, you’d be surprised at the difference it can make.
I underline the caveat, subject to a medical. However, if a deal was welcomed by both parties, the impact would be tremendous for both Celtic, Tierney and our marketing department 🙂
well said james…never, EVER, go back….has it EVER worked ? we got our 23 mil or whatever it was…good business…he wanted to go…and he’s injury prone…and the older one gets….
HATE all this talk of ex players coming back….who next ? griff ?