Veteran players mix with the stars

Dec 19 2007 Ayrshire Post

MARTIN TIERNEY has left behind Ayrshire junior football and is mixing with some of the world’s best known former pro footballers.

And his old mucker at Whitletts Vics is sampling the good life with him.

Citadel manager John Given (pictured left) is just back from the Tenerife International Masters where his team swept all before them.

John’s team included former Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar, ex-Rangers winger Mark Walters and former Kilmarnock and Motherwell midfielder Ally Mauchlen.

John, 55, smiled: “Martin runs soccer camps all over the world and invited me to be tournament director for the event in Tenerife.

“Since I stopped playing junior football, I’ve played with some of the very best ex-pros but Mark Walters is easily the best.

“He is now 43 but his skills were breathtaking.”

John also joined Martin for tournaments in Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong and has played alongside names such as Ian Rush, Matt Le Tissier and Rod Wallace.

Tierney, who now runs the company Soccer Experience, played for Cumnock and Bohemians before becoming a soccer jet setter. He is now planning a tournament at Singapore in May.