Career
Tierney came through the famous academy system where he was extremely highly rated by Dario Gradi, and the coaching staff He played as a winger or striker, and was known for his dribbling skills and technique. Tierney played almost 100 times for Crewe in the bottom two divisions, scoring 11 times.
Tierney attracted a lot of attention from scouts top flight English clubs, and a £750,000 fee was agreed in 1993 for Tierney to move to Liverpool.
The deal fell through at the last minute when Tierney failed a medical. The setback seemed to knock Tierney"s confidence, and the next season Tierney suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury, that kept him out of the Crewe team for almost a year.
He never looked likely to regain his former form at Gresty Road, and he was only seen at his best intermittently after that. Tierney also played for as a midfielder where he is affectionately known among fans as "Sir" Francis Tierney for scoring the golden goal in the 2003 conference play-off final against Dagenham & Redbridge at Stoke"s Britannia Stadium.
In his 2005 autobiography, former Liverpool F.C. legend Robbie Fowler described Tierney as a "brilliant player..better than most of the other lads in the schoolboys team including myself".
As a player.
