Ruairi Daly 
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Kieran Tierney has hailed the impact outgoing manager Ronny Deila has had on his career at Celtic.
The youngster rose through the ranks under the Norwegian who gave him his debut just over a year ago against Dundee.
Tierney has already been voted as Celtic’s Young Player of the Year, and will be looking to collect PFA Scotland award in due course to cap off a remarkable year.
As quoted by the Herald Scotland, he said:
The manager has been great with me. I can’t thank him enough for everything he has said. It gives you a lot of confidence.
We want to give him the perfect send off by winning the title. The last four games are very important for us and we want to wrap it up as soon as we can.
When I came up from the Under-20’s I was sitting on the bench every week and there wasn’t much chance to show what I could do.
But he watched me closely in games and in training. He’s been great for me. I will forever be thankful because if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be where I am.
The 18-year-old made his 30th appearance of the season on Saturday against Ross County and has frozen Emilio Izaguirre out of the side since mid-January.
For fans sat in the stands the dream is to play for Celtic and walk out to the thousands at Paradise and hear them sing your name, but for Tierney, it is a reality.
After a whirlwind 12-months at Paradise, the youngster is still keeping a cool head about his sudden rise to fame in Glasgow and beyond.
If I am walking about I do get recognised more. But I just do my usual stuff, like playing my Play Station. That has probably been the biggest change for me – going from Xbox to PlayStation.
I’ve seen myself on the PlayStation, but I’m not too good on there. My pals keep slagging me off because I have the worst rating in the team. I don’t even sign myself, it’s a waste of money.
His continued hard work and dedication on the training pitch and in the gym has paid dividends on the field as he is now able to play two or even three games a week.
A first league winners medal is in sight, and with his first Scotland cap under his belt, the sky is the limit for Tierney in the future.
Eric Knott 
