KIERAN Tierney insisted last night there is “every chance” of him following club legends like Billy McNeill and Paul McStay in the list of Celtic’s one-club men and said he hoped that would be the case.
The 20-year-old left back, who this week signed a bumper contract extension which will take him through to the summer of 2023, is already the talk of big clubs throughout Europe with an estimated transfer value in excess of £20m.
Such loyalty to one club is clearly rare in the modern game but Tierney said last night there was no reason why he couldn’t remain at Celtic for the remainder of his career.
Read more: Celtic star Kieran Tierney: Living with my mum and dad helps keep me grounded
Asked if he feels there is a chance his career could pan out that way, Tierney said: “Yeah, there is, every chance - I hope. I have been here 13 years already and that is a long time. There is no doubt about it – I could be. We will see what happens. I hope I can stay here as long as I can, and keep playing.
“I am in no rush to leave,” he added. “I think everybody can see that from me signing a long-term deal. I wish it was longer. It is football, you never know where a career is going to take you. But I am very happy at Celtic."
The improved contract was signed at a time when Tierney already had around three-and-a-half years remaining on his current arrangement. “Like any other deal - if you are doing well, they reward you with a new one," said Tierney. "They don’t need to give you another one, especially when you’ve got almost four years left on the one you’ve got. Fair play, it’s good for both parties. Everyone is happy.”
Brendan Rodgers, himself on a contract with lasts through to the summer of 2021, the year when Celtic would hope to have reached a historic ten top flight titles in a row, joked last week that Tierney would be here for '12 in a row' and the 20-year-old is clearly enthused about the prospect of working alongside the Northern Irishman as the club continue to rack up special milestones at Parkhead.
Read more: Kieran Tierney on the night Celtic legend Tommy Burns came to training
“He [Rodgers] has been brilliant," said Tierney. "To sign two deals under him in a year-and-a-bit is unreal. The faith he put in me right from the start was amazing. I had only played one full season at first-team level and he could have brought in someone more experienced for the Champions League qualifiers so I have a lot to thank him for."
Avoiding defeat against St Johnstone tomorrow would see Celtic take sole ownership of the all-time UK record with 63 consecutive domestic matches unbeaten. Tierney, on the bench for Ronny Deila's side at McDiarmid Park back in May when they lost their last domestic match 2-1, admitted he could hardly have imagined then that the team would have compiled such a blemish-free run of matches.
"Even now if I look back on last year, that was creating history," said Tierney. "I don’t think that will ever be done again – what the boys achieved. I think it will be more recognised down the years, maybe 10 or 15 years later, when we look back on it. We will realise what a great achievement it was. Could we do it again? It is early on, early doors. We don’t want to get too far ahead.
"I didn’t play, I was on the bench back in May. But we couldn’t have imagined this, the next game after that was Motherwell I think? Obviously we didn’t know too much about the record a couple of games ago, but it is being spoken about now. We are not going in against St Johnstone to beat the record, we are going in to play our game and hopefully get the result."
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