“In my mind nothing could compare to playing for Celtic. I grew up supporting the club, my family, my friends, everyone supports Celtic. The thought of playing for anyone else always seemed too hard to get my head around.”

The words could belong to Kieran Tierney, Celtic’s next captain-in-waiting.

It is not Tierney speaking, the posterboy graduate of Celtic’s academy, but former Celtic kid Tony McParland. Chatting at his gym in Thornliebank on the outskirts of Giffnock, the 35-year-old looks like he could still get a game somewhere.

Small but lean and muscular, McParland’s trajectory began the same way Tierney’s did only to veer off course when it came to making the leap from being at the underbelly of the club to moving front and centre. It is not McParland’s story that it is the unfamiliar tale, but rather Tierney’s which is the exception.

By the time McParland had come to appreciate that the road to the first-team was never going to open up, he had lost a chunk of playing time waiting on it to happen. Having shared a dressing room with the illustrious names that brought Celtic back to domestic dominance under Martin O’Neill, McParland’s path was always going to be a tough one as he tried to force his way into the team.

“I was 23 years old and had no first-team experience,” he recalled. “I stayed too long. If I could turn back the clock I would have insisted on going out on loan. Looking back, I was in a bubble and I didn’t want to come out of it.

“I had played with men and seasoned pros, had trained with them, but there is nothing that compares to playing first-team football. At the time the reserve team had a lot of fringe players in it who weren’t playing regularly – David Fernandez, Momo Sylla, Bobby Petta – and the majority was the first-team guys and then there were three or four of us who would play alongside them.

“Gordon [Strachan] came in and seen how little first-team experience I had. He played me in a testimonial just before I left and it meant so much to me – too much to me. “I was trying too hard and things weren’t coming off. I left soon after that but I was 23 and hadn’t played in the first-team. and then moved me on which was fair enough. I went to Barnsley but I found it so difficult to adapt to playing in front of a big crowd because I just wasn’t used to it. If you are a kid at 17, 18 the best thing you can do is get first-team football as quickly as possible.

“The thing that made me stay on so long was that Martin [O’Neill] kept offering me another deal because he saw something there. That gives you faith that he likes you, that it might still happen. The big thing for me was luck. I just never had a slice of luck and you do need that.

“Sometimes I beat myself up about what I could have done differently but I was obsessed with fitness and I worked hard at it. Sometimes the fine line is just that rub of the green.”

Other clubs followed – Barnsley, Wycombe, Livingston, Queen of the South, Queens Park – but only Livingston offered anything in the way of consistency.

McParland played there for a full season before slipping down the leagues and eventually out of football altogether.

This summer as big money transfers dominate the backpages and deals are offered to keep players, those who slip are away from the game do so unnoticed. The burden, though, of having come within touching distance and not making it can be difficult to come to terms with particularly when there are reminders of contemporaries who went all the way.

Life after a successful football career can be daunting enough. But when it is a career that never fulfilled its promise, walking back into normal life can be quite the eye-opener.

“I struggled when I stopped playing,” said McParland. “I probably didn’t even realise it but my wife, Nicola, keeps saying to me that I was in a dark place then. You are defined as a football my everyone around you; to friends, family, you are Tony The Footballer.

“That is your tag from primary school all the way to adulthood and then suddenly you stop and you are just like everybody else. My Dad has a plumbing business so I went and got to work with him and I hated it. My heart just wasn’t in it. It just wasn’t for me.”

McParland still misses football on a Saturday. The smell of the grass, the camaraderie, the game itself. He ditched the tools and went out on his own as he embarked on a business still close to his heart.

Having been offered a coaching role with Celtic – McParland oversees the Parkhead side’s under-11 squad two nights a week and on a Sunday afternoon. His daylight hours are spent with clients in his gym as he offers tailored classes with a particular niche to focus on football specific drills.

“I get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of seeing people happy,” he said. “They come with different issues and I am a natural people person.

“When I played I wished I had someone to do specific football training with. I do that with kids and I also work one-to-one with adult clients in all areas of fitness work while also overseeing different group classes. I really enjoy it.

“I have been in touch with some of my old team-mates so I am hoping that Aiden [McGeady] and Charlie [Mulgrew] will be bringing in some shirts for the wall!”

As McParland’s career was tapering to a close, someone else’s was just taking off.

“I played with Andy [Robertson] at Queens Park and three years later he was playing in the Champions League final…. I didn’t give him tips – I just gave him the ball!” he joked.

“The one thing Andy has is sheer enthusiasm. We had a few conversations and he was keen to listen about my time at Celtic. Like me, he had started off at Celtic but was released at 15 but he was just so determined to make it. He loved it and he worked hard. I don’t think anyone expected him to play in the Champions League final – I don’t even think he expected it himself. But it is belief and a wee bit of luck.”

*Elite Sport Fitness is based at Unit 4, Thornliebank industrial estate. It can be found on Facebook and contacted on elitesportfitnessgym.gmail.com