Kieran Tierney - The Athlete, The Footballer

Celtic fan reaction to Tierney's return, and to be fair, based on the evidence of our eyes, has been complex. Let's try and unravel.

The return of Kieran Tierney has been very strange.

I had an admittedly simplistic perspective: Celtic have acquired an experienced English Premier League (EPL) player for a position we’ve wrestled with regarding quality since, errr, Tierney left in 2019.

But it is obviously more complex than that. A prodigal son returns. A rare example of academy success – grow your own and reap the rewards after a few years of faithful service with a huge dividend from the obscenely resourced EPL. And one Brendan Rodgers wanted. So, he is forever tied to the now departed manager who became tainted with intransigence and, possibly, being a disruptor.

And there were always doubts about fitness and the ability to be the rampaging box-to-box full-back of old. Certainly, when competing in a match every 3.8 days. Was there even some referred guilt? Did his injury situation start by being overplayed at Celtic?

Early signs were not encouraging. He’d lost some pace. His time was stringently managed. Rarely passing the 70^th minute before a substitution had to be made (leaving less flexibility in the forward areas).

It was 21^st September in the League Cup at Firhill before 90 minutes were completed. Justifiable caution and learning from past mistakes, or stretching the capabilities of a lame player as thinly as possible?

Yet, despite this, only three matches have been missed altogether. 1200 minutes is the 6^th most in the squad. His first goal on return arrived in the last game at home to Kilmarnock. There have been four assists, the second most in the squad, and his five goal contributions are joint 3^rd most.

But let’s start at the back.