A Scottish full-back struggling for minutes at a giant London membership and pondering a transfer elsewhere.
Steve Clarke has been in that film earlier than. So if Kieran Tierney wants recommendation or steering over the following few months, concerning his state of affairs at Arsenal, he received’t should look far. The Scotland supervisor has been there, performed it and discovered the lesson – albeit at Chelsea and never the Gunners.
Former Celtic star Tierney faces a serious dilemma this summer time. He’s on the verge of turning into a Premier League winner with Mikel Arteta’s facet clear on the prime – however can’t get a recreation. The arrival of Ukrainian star Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester Metropolis has restricted his recreation time. That has alerted Newcastle and others who’re eager to snare the 25-year-old for round £20million. Even in his heyday, Clarke wasn’t value that sort of cash. However he skilled the same situation as a participant at Stamford Bridge within the late Eighties. He was out of the workforce, simply as Chelsea had been about to show a nook beneath new proprietor Ken Bates, with new gamers arriving from overseas.
Clarke admits that, for a spell, his angle wasn’t proper. However he quickly realised the chance he had on the membership. A change in mentality – and later his place – meant he acquired to play with the likes of Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola.
He additionally picked up a League Cup, FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup with the Blues earlier than retiring to grow to be a coach. Clarke is aware of what Tierney will likely be going by way of sitting on Arsenal’s bench.
However forward of subsequent week’s Euro 2024 qualifiers, he’s warning the Scotland defender to not make rash choices on his future. Clarke stated: “It’s one of many issues it’s important to cope with if you end up enjoying at a top-level membership. I had it myself once I was a participant. Within the early days at Chelsea it was just a little bit simpler.
“However after you have the international affect beginning to are available in, and high quality gamers begin to flip up, you end up at a stage the place you might be possibly not going to be chosen to play each recreation. You need to cope with that.
“I’ve spoken to Kieran lately and he’s dealing with the state of affairs properly. He understands why he’s not getting so many minutes. He simply has to knuckle down and get on with it. You need to be a very good skilled and work as onerous as you may.
“His membership are flying on the prime of the league so, whereas it’s not nice that he’s not enjoying, he can take some consolation from the very fact the workforce are enjoying properly.
“Am I glad I caught it out at Chelsea? I don’t suppose anyone else wished me! You’ve got a selection as a participant – run away and check out elsewhere or stick it out. I didn’t have too many suitors on the time. I used to be settled within the space and on the membership. I tweaked my place just a little and moved inside to centre-back. That appeared to assist me get extra video games.”
Clarke went on to play over 400 video games for the Blues and ultimately turned Jose Mourinho’s first-team coach on the Bridge. However he admits he wasn’t all the time the consummate skilled earlier than the penny lastly dropped.
He stated: “I acquired the advantage of staying as a result of in the direction of the tip of my profession I picked up just a few trophies.That was a pleasant approach to end my profession, with two or three winner’s medals in my pocket.
“Kieran might be in a barely totally different place. He’s definitely adequate to play on the highest stage within the EPL. So I feel he ought to knuckle down, see this season out like the nice skilled he’s and see what the summer time brings.
“I really had six months once I let myself down. I didn’t practice or work as onerous as I might to be within the workforce. Fortunately I noticed the error of my methods, knuckled down and acquired again within the workforce.
“Everybody offers with these conditions in a different way. If I might return to my state of affairs, when workforce choice was wobbling just a little bit, I’d do it in a different way.
“So I can go that on to folks like Kieran now and provides them the advantage of my expertise. I simply modified inside myself. I realised I wasn’t going wherever. I needed to knuckle down and get again within the workforce – and that’s what I did. I ended up with a reasonably first rate profession in consequence.
“I now have all these experiences to take with me. You attempt to impart that data to gamers who’re experiencing one thing related, if not the identical state of affairs. You say: ‘Look I made an a**e of myself there, simply watch out what you might be doing, do the best factor.’”
Tierney is a part of a well-known nationwide workforce squad now, with keeper Angus Gunn the one new recruit included to face Cyprus and Spain at Hampden.
Clarke believes that continuity is essential to success – however admits the likes of Lawrence Shankland, Kevin Nisbet, Anthony Ralston and others can rely themselves unlucky to overlook out.
He stated: “You all the time wish to make it aggressive. You don’t wish to be handing out caps willy-nilly and all the time looking for an answer.
“I’ve a method of enjoying now and a lot of gamers who perceive what’s required once we get collectively. Six months since our final aggressive recreation, the gamers will instantly know what we anticipate. Somewhat than attempting to mattress in three or 4 totally different names, it’s simple. Or it ought to be.
“They know one another properly, what is anticipated of one another, what to anticipate from me, what I’m going to ask for. Hopefully they’ll ship.
“Lawrence can contemplate himself just a little bit unlucky. Kevin got here again from his first damage and was on fireplace. Sadly he has picked up one other one and that appears to have held him again just a little bit. Tony performed for Celtic final week so there are a great deal of folks on the periphery who didn’t get chosen.
“Dominic Hyam at Blackburn has performed properly, as has Murray Wallace at Millwall, Liam Lindsay at Preston. The great factor for me is I do know all of them wish to be chosen and are combating to be in that squad.”
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