Kieran Tierney critics don’t know their Celtic history

Some don’t want to go but have no choice. A few have fled without so much as a glance behind them once the taxi gets onto London Road. And there are those who love the club as much as any supporter but know the time has come to say goodbye.

The list of those who left Celtic because they believed it would be best for their career is long and illustrious.

Kenny Dalglish was branded a traitor for joining European champions Liverpool in 1977. Can anyone really argue that the great man’s move was the wrong one?

Celtic have made a fortune over the last five years. Some seriously players and one world class performer, Virgil van Dijk, were sold. Celtic won three Trebles in a row after the Dutchman signed for Southampton. Life goes on.

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And now, most likely, Kieran Tierney, with his best interests at a heavy heart, will become the next to test themselves elsewhere in the hope of following in the boots of so many who came before him.

Will it make him less of a Celtic man? Absolutely not. Dalglish was booed on his return to Celtic Park 12 months after he left – he played for Liverpool in Jock Stein’s testimonial. The King in 2002 was correctly voted into the greatest ever Celtic team.

If Tierney never plays for his club again, the 22-year-old from Muirhouse in Motherwell is without question legendary figure at that football club. Those with too much time on their hands, if not enough to do some proper thinking, have polluted social media with the kind of crassness which Dalglish received.

Neil Lennon is in the middle of all this.

As a manger, he wants to keep his best. As a realist, he knows the way his club works. Yesterday, and really for the first time, the manager spoke as if it was a done deal and Tierney was already away.

“I’ve had a couple of chats with him over the past few days and it can be unsettling,” said Lennon. “You are a human being at the end of the day and sometimes your mind races away with things. It’s just a question of staying in the here and now and letting things take course.

“It would be a personal wrench, I’m sure, for him to leave, but then maybe he is thinking about taking his career on for a new challenge. Whether he progresses is a different argument or debatable - but it is a huge decision if and when Arsenal meet the criteria of the price.

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“Kieran is only 22. He has achieved a lot already but it is a huge decision (and) no matter where he goes, Kieran he will still be a Celtic fan. But some Celtic fans are tunnel vision and I get that as well.”

Lennon’s description of £25m being a bargain is pushing it even if the money spent by English clubs is offensive. It’s the right price for a potentially world class player, which he is not yet, no matter what some Arsenal fans feel, many of whom can’t believe a poxy Scottish club won’t bow down to their bigger and betters.

“That’s maybe just a small cross section of some supporters,” said Lennon. “I think the majority of the football public would know what a good player Kieran is. He has already achieved a hell of a lot.

“It’s been meteoric, really. We think he is a top-quality player, one of the best as in Britain. The transfer fee should merit that.

“Whether he progresses is a different argument or debatable but it is a huge decision if and when Arsenal meet the criteria of the price.”

Lennon joked, maybe, that if £25m came in then he would be banging on the boardroom door rather than the usual polite chap.

“I don’t know what they’ll do with it,” the manager admitted. “We will work within the structure here. Obviously, it’s a huge amount of money. We have had discussions but they haven’t been about Kieran leaving and what we’re going to do with the money.

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“We’re working away already on transfers and players we want to bring in. Whether we sell Kieran or not that won’t change things. It’ll help. But we are not in the process of busting the bank on things.

“Right now, we’re just concentrating on these qualifiers and getting the right players in at the right price. How many more? Another three of four anyway.”

There is a game to be played tonight. Celtic will finish off their tie against Sarajevo without any hassle, leading as they do 3-1 over a team, which with all due respect is not one of European football’s great sides.

“I think the players will go out with the right attitude,” said Lennon. “Sometimes subconsciously you can take your foot off the gas a little bit. We have to be very, very wary of that.

“Sarajevo may come with an all or nothing attitude and have a real go at it. So we have to be bang at it. It took us 15 -20 minutes to bed ourselves into the first-leg but I was delighted with the result.

“But I remember being 3-1 up after a first-leg against Ajax and they absolutely battered us at Celtic Park. We made it through but I’d like it to be a lot more comfortable than that.”

Lennon will be without Mikey Johnston for this game which will give Lewis Morgan the chance to show what he can do in a match which is set-up for him to impress.

“I’m pleased with Morgan,” said the manager. “He’s got a chance to show what he can do. It’s not like he’s on trial, we just want him to come in and do well and he’s got a good chance of starting. He’s had a good pre-season and I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen so far.”