Another decade of Scottish football came to an end with this weekend’s fixtures.
Here, PA Sport looks at five of the best players to have graced the top flight over the last 10 years.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, all five have played for a dominant Celtic side who have won eight successive Premiership titles and the last 10 domestic trophies.
Scott Brown
The Celtic skipper has been leading the charge at Parkhead since signing from Hibernian in 2007.
Brown, now 34, was handed the captaincy by Tony Mowbray in 2010 and since then has collected a remarkable 18 trophies – there was success before that too – and there is the promise of more to come.
Brown retired from international football in February 2018 after 55 Scotland caps and also won the PFA Scotland Players’ player of the year and the Scottish Football Writers Association player of the year awards that year.
James Forrest
Forrest came through the ranks at Parkhead and made his debut on May 1, 2010 as a late substitute against Motherwell, scoring the third goal in a 4–0 win.
The lively winger with an eye for a goal has not looked back – last season he was voted both PFA Scotland players’ player of the Year and SFWA footballer of the year, and he has also developed into a key part of the Scotland set-up.
Like Brown, he has collected 18 winners medals – eight in the league, five in the Scottish Cup and five in the League Cup – and in the latter competition he equalled Bobby Lennox’s record of scoring in three consecutive finals when he notched in the 2-0 win over Motherwell in 2017.
Callum McGregor
McGregor, another product of the Celtic youth set-up, was farmed out to Notts County on loan in 2013 but returned to make his mark at Parkhead.
McGregor made his Hoops debut against KR Reykjavík on July 15, 2014 in a Champions League qualifier and scored the only goal of the game. Since then he has scooped up 12 winner’s medals and become an integral part of the Scotland squad.
The 26-year-old can play several positions but has turned into a consistently high performer mostly as a holding midfielder and is one of the first names on Neil Lennon’s teamsheet.
Kieran Tierney
The left-back from Lanarkshire quickly became a fans’ favourite after making his debut at 17 on April 15, 2015 as an 81st-minute substitute for Emilio Izaguirre against Dundee.
Tierney is a Celtic fan, a former season ticket-holder, and he made an instant bond with the supporters.
His rise was meteoric and the rampaging defender soon found himself in the Scotland side. He picked up eight winners medals before he quit Celtic in the summer for a £25million move to Arsenal.
Fraser Forster
🧤 LA GRAN MURALLA 🧤— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 8, 2019
The Englishman joined Celtic in August 2010, originally on loan before he joined the club in June 2012 on a permanent deal for around £2million.
Forster’s performances grabbed the attention of Southampton and he moved back south in August 2014 for a reported fee of around £10million. Lennon remained a fan, though, and brought the England international back on loan in August.
He has been a revelation, including a stunning performance against Rangers in the Betfred Cup final earlier in the month when he saved an Alfredo Morelos penalty in the Hoops’ 1-0 win.
