‘Old school’ Tierney thanks fans for social media support

Black boots, fresh-faced and only 18-years-old – Kieran Tierney has embraced a traditional style of play which compliments his ability to take all that has been thrown at him in the last year.

Tierney’s rise through the ranks at Celtic is a testament to his commitment to his Bhoyhood club and he was rewarded for that with a four-year contract earlier this season.

He recovered from a broken leg in a freak accident that happened just 24-hours after making the Celtic teamsheet for the first time to make his debut in April.

Now, he is a fan favourite and quickly growing in stature in the Hoops team.

As quoted by the Daily Record, he warmed to the idea of being viewed as a traditional left-back and said:

Old school’s right. I’ve always worn black boots and always will. People have tried to get me to wear coloured ones but it’ll never happen.

The fans have been great with me, though. The support on social media is brilliant and I have a lot to thank them for.

Returning from a broken leg can never be easy, but for Tierney, it took a matter of months to be back in action and making his first senior start against St Johnstone in May.

Speaking about his road to recovery and the disappointment he experienced 12-months ago, he said:

It’s crazy – a year past on Thursday I’d have been in getting an operation on my leg after breaking it in training.

I’d made the bench for the first time against Ross County then broke my leg the very next day.

It wasn’t even a challenge, I just twisted badly. So that was the start of my 2015. I could never have seen the way it ended after the way it began.

I’d been due to go to Gran Canaria with the first team at the start of January as well so that was hard to take, missing out on that and ending up spending New Year in a moon boot.

But all the coaches were really supportive, telling me when I was coming back I’d be right back in with the first team. It was good to know there was that kind of confidence in me.

The young left-back even heard from two of Celtic’s more experienced players after his leg break which gave him a lot of encouragement.

Even the fact that all the boys got my number and texted me as well, that was brilliant. There were a few. Scott Brown and Craig Gordon were the first two I heard from, which was great.

They wouldn’t even have had my number so the fact they went out of their way to get it to do that tells you what kind of people they are.