KIERAN TIPS RODGERS TO HANDLE DOUBTS OVER PARKHEAD FUTURE

Keeping the faith: Tierney is confident distractions won’t affect Rodgers

Tierney backs Rodgers to shut out speculation

19 Jul 2025
Scottish Daily Mail
By JOHN McGARRY

KIERAN TIERNEY believes Brendan Rodgers will cope with the ongoing speculation surrounding his long-term future at Celtic. The Northern Irishman is entering the final year of his contract and, despite having touched on the matter in talks with the club’s powerbrokers at the end of the last campaign, there’s been no indication yet that he will agree to stay on beyond 2026. But Tierney, who was persuaded by the 52-year-old to return to the club from Arsenal this summer, claims the uncertainty surrounding the manager’s position will have no bearing on how he or the team perform. ‘I don’t think he’ll bother too much about the outside noise,’ said Tierney. ‘He’ll just get on with his job because he knows he’s got a job to do. And, as his players, we’ve got a job to do. And we need to do it to the best of our ability. ‘That takes hard work and commitment every single day, no days off and just being at it every day. ‘I think with the captain that we’ve got, it’s perfect having Callum (McGregor) and the manager as well together. It’s a perfect combination.’ Tierney won two Trebles in Rodgers’ first spell before completing a £25million move south in 2019.

Having been reunited with Rodgers, he feels the Northern Irishman is just as committed to the cause as the manager he first encountered. ‘It’s amazing how much he actually works and the effort he puts in,’ added Tierney. ‘We saw the benefits of it the other night (in the friendly win over Sporting Lisbon). ‘We played really well, some good passages of play against a top team. ‘It just shows you how passionate he is that you can still see him shouting and wanting more. And you need that if you are going to win these trophies. ‘You need to be 100 per cent all the time, whether it’s a pre-season friendly, a Champions League qualifier, Scottish Cup or the league. You need to be on it every single day, even in training. You need to be on it and the manager makes sure that we are.’

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It was now or never for my Celtic return, says Tierney

By JOHN McGARRY

THE return of Kieran Tierney to Celtic at some stage felt almost inevitable from the moment he signed for Arsenal in 2019. The timing of it, however, is perhaps a little surprising.

The full-back only turned 28 last month. Now approaching his peak years, a seasoned international of his standing would normally be too costly and too in-demand to enter Celtic’s orbit.

Two factors aligned to ensure the deal could happen. Firstly, Celtic were willing to make an exception to their signing policy to accommodate an exceptional player. Secondly, and most significantly, Tierney had absolutely no desire for his second spell to be remembered as that of a player who was past his sell-by date.

‘I thought, “This will be now or never time”,’ he revealed.

‘If I don’t come back now and I end up signing somewhere else, I wouldn’t want to come back at 33 and maybe I’m slowing down.

‘I feel good just now. I’m in a good place and I’m obviously still young just now.

‘Since I left, every summer or every time I started not to play, it was always the rumour that I would be back. It was something that was obviously hard to do at the time.

‘But this time it was right and it was easy to do as a free agent. It was perfect.’

He is, however, aware of the question marks surrounding his injury record. If it wasn’t for bad luck in that regard in recent times, he’d have had no luck at all.

‘I feel good,’ Tierney insisted. ‘I had the games in the summer with Scotland obviously, and then after that I had a good rest. But I did a lot of work as well just to make sure I was fit and ready.’

Had he wanted to do so, Tierney could easily have followed in the footsteps of Scott McTominay and the like and pursued options abroad. Yet there’s truly no place like home.

‘I went away abroad (on loan to Real Sociedad) and I loved it,’ he added. ‘But the way this fell in January, when I knew I was a free agent, there was one place I had my heart set on.

‘ I never thought about anything else, to be honest.’

One of the poster boys for Celtic’s academy after bursting onto the scene under Ronny Deila, his record £25million sale to the Gunners was a matter of financial necessity.

His time in England brought multiple challenges. The dismissal of Unai Emery midway through his first season left him fighting for his place under Mikel Arteta. Injuries did not help.

‘It was a challenge, but nothing that I had never faced when I was younger,’ he insisted.

‘I had setbacks when I was younger. I was never first choice when I was younger. It’s not something that I took the huff with.

‘I just kept working hard and whether you get in or not, you’re giving yourself the best chance.’

The arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City pushed him towards the periphery, with the year in Spain coming after a season of little activity. Yet he remains sanguine about the collective experience.

‘I loved every minute of being away,’ he stressed.

‘It had its challenges, just like everyone knew it would.

‘But I don’t think bad about it because I never played the last season or two. Arsenal’s a good club. Sociedad’s a great club as well.

‘I met a lot of good people through the journey.’

He played with and against a galaxy of stars. ‘David Luiz, he signed the same day,’ he recalled. ‘With the experience that he’s got, you learn from people like that.

‘I’m maybe not one for asking too many questions but just watching people and learning from all the older pros, even coaching staff who help you and have been through it and done it, that helps you.’

He pocketed more than a wealth of experience through his adventures. A victory in the FA Cup against Chelsea came at the end of his first season.

‘It feels a long time ago now I won it, but that was a good start to my career, winning a trophy down there and settling in that first season,’ he recalled.

‘It ended up being the Covid season, but winning stuff always makes things better and easier.’

He believes he’ll be a different voice in the dressing room second time around.

‘I think that just comes with age and experience,’ he added.

‘Like when I was first here, it was Broony (Scott Brown) and (Mikael) Lustig, Charlie Mulgrew, people like that — the older ones. I probably fall into that category because it is quite a young squad.

‘I feel like I’m more mature and I’ve learned a lot, so I’d be able to help people as well.’