Speaking on The Celtic State Of Mind podcast, former Celtic manager Ronny Deila has revealed the vital change he made to Kieran Tierney’s position, switching him from a left winger to a left-back in the wake of injury problems when he was a youngster.
Deila of course was the Hoops boss who gave Tierney his senior debut back in April 2015 and clearly had an influencing impact on his early Celtic career.
In a rare interview about his time as boss at Celtic Park, the Norwegian has spoken fondly of the Scotland international.
As quoted on The Celtic State Of Mind, Deila said:
In the beginning he had troubles with his calves, he was always getting cramps. He was a winger in the beginning so I was very clear that for me he was a full back.
He has to play there because he is so good defensively and so hard to play against but the most important was that he gets his body right and play every week at left full back and then he took steps very quick.
He’s one of those players you see is going to reach very far because of his hunger, it was unbelievable. On the first day of training with the first team the wingers didn’t want to play against him it was that tough.
It’s fantastic to hear about the early days of Tierney’s career and pleasing to hear Deila speak so fondly of not just the player but Celtic itself, also commenting on his desire for the club to win ten-in-a-row.
While it was clear a change was needed by the time Deila left the club, he did deliver two league titles and will be a celebrated part of the Celtic story if the club do go on to clinch a historic ten league titles in a row.
Thankfully he saw what was needed with regards to Tierney too, recognising not just the change of position but also the then teenager’s heart and desire.