Marc Peter Tierney (born 23 August 1985) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

most recently for

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

club

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. Predominantly a left back, Tierney could play in other positions, such as centre-back. His brother

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

is also a retired professional footballer. A graduate of the Oldham Athletic Academy where he made his debut in 2003, he has also played for

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Club career

Born in

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, Tierney rose through the youth ranks at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

, making his professional debut for Oldham in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match in August of the 2003–04 season, against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. In December 2004 he went to

on loan for a three-month spell under Paul Simpson. In January 2007, Tierney was signed by

in a two and a half year deal. He was a regular in the Shrewsbury side during the closing months of the 2006–07 season, as Town reached the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

playoff final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Notably, Tierney was sent off in the dying minutes of that game, making him only the second player to suffer this fate at the new stadium, and meaning he would miss the first game of the 2007–08 season. In spite of Shrewsbury's disappointing 2007–08 season, Tierney enjoyed excellent personal form. His consistently dependable performances earned him both the fans' and players' player of the year awards.

Colchester United

On 27 November 2008 Tierney joined Colchester United on an initial five-week loan. The move was made permanent in the January transfer window. Tierney received his 1st red card against former employers Oldham.

Norwich City

On 12 January 2011, Tierney signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side Norwich City and was handed the number 32 shirt. The move came despite Tierney saying he would not move to Norwich "in a million years". He made his debut for The Canaries against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park as a substitute for Adam Drury in a 0–0 draw, and made his first start in the 2–1 win over Millwall at Carrow Road. Once Norwich had completed promotion he joined in with the mass celebrations by doing numerous cartwheels on the pitch. He repeated a similar celebration during a pre-season friendly against Real Zaragoza when two of the floodlights failed after a lightning strike to "entertain the fans". Tierney was given squad number 23 ahead of the 2011–12 Premier League season and started on the opening day of the season. He was the only player to start the first 6 games of the season, establishing himself as first choice left back. He is affectionately known as "Mad Marc" by the Norwich fans. Tierney continued his run in the team, starting all of the games up to Christmas until a serious injury ruled him out for the rest of the season of what was an impressive season for the team. At the end of the 2012–13 season, it was announced Tierney was not to be given a new contract, allowing him to look for other clubs on a free transfer.

Bolton Wanderers

Following his release from

announced that Tierney would be joining the club when his contract with Norwich expired on 30 June 2013. He made his debut for Bolton in their 1–1 draw with Lancashire rivals

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

on 3 August 2013. Tierney established himself as Bolton's first choice left-back before suffering an ankle injury in the club's 1–1 draw with

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

at the

Reebok Stadium The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming righ ...

meaning a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Retirement

On 23 April 2015, Tierney announced his retirement from professional football after failing to recover from his ankle injury.

International career

Aside from England, Tierney is also eligible to play for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

national team. His brother

has previously represented

at U21 level.

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

and

Marco Tardelli Marco Tardelli (; born 24 September 1954) is an Italian former football player and manager. At club level, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs; he began his career with Pisa, and later played for Como, Juventus, and Internazional ...

were reported to have been keeping an eye on him ahead of Ireland's participation in

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

Personal life

Marc is the brother of former

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

player Paul Tierney.

Career statistics

:Source: *Does not include

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

appearances.

Honours

Norwich City *

runners-up:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tierney, Marc 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Prestwich English footballers English people of Irish descent Association football defenders Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Premier League players