Which Scotland player was born in Malaysia?
This was a popular trivia question for the Tartan Army during the career of Shaun Maloney. The former Celtic, Aston Villa, Wigan and Scotland winger spent several years in the Southeast Asian nation before moving to his mother’s home country.
Which Malaysia player was born in Scotland?
It’s a reverse of the Maloney question, and one that could be posed to fans of the Malayan Tigers. However, given Fergus Tierney’s name and appearance, the answer might be a little more obvious.
Football in the Family
While Maloney was in Malaysia for several years after his birth in Sarawak, Tierney’s time in Scotland was brief, largely due to the career path his father took. Martin Tierney was also a professional footballer, but, apart from a brief spell at Stranraer, the midfielder’s career was spent outside his homeland, taking in stints in Ireland, the USA, Singapore, and, most pertinently, Malaysia.
Martin Tierney went into coaching and set up a company called Soccer Experience, which helped Fergus, a striker, get his start.
"When I was a kid in Penang, I was always playing around my dad's facilities. I played in the tournaments that he organised."
"As I got older, and my dad recognised that I had a bit about me in terms of talent, I used to go on training camps with different clubs in Scotland. I did trials during the school holidays from when I was 12 or 13 until just before the Covid pandemic hit, when I was around 16.”
The Pandemic’s Impact and JDT Opportunity
The pandemic had a huge impact on Tierney’s career trajectory. Instead of attempting to make a name for himself in his father’s home country, fate would see him join Malaysia’s perennial champions, Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), and become a full Malaysia international.
“I had trials at a few clubs in England. I’d been to Leicester, Sunderland, St Johnstone a few times and Motherwell. I was set to go to Dundee when Covid got in the way."
“I was always good enough to hold my own, but because we lived in Malaysia, which is so far away, it didn’t work out for me to leave the family. Some of the clubs were willing to take me on, but my dad didn’t think I was ready to go and live away on my own, and he was probably right.
“If it wasn’t for Covid, the plan would probably have been to send me full-time with a team like St Johnstone reserves or Motherwell reserves. But When JDT came in, it was a no-brainer, given the way the club is run and the facilities they have. There is no other club like it in Southeast Asia.”
Getting Noticed in Penang
There is no way of knowing how things might have turned out had Covid not forced Tierney to rethink his plans, but things did not turn out too badly as he made the best of a difficult situation. At home in Penang in the north west of Malaysia, a bit of help from dad greased the wheels for his football journey to really get going.
“During the Covid pandemic, no one was really playing official football matches. So my dad would organise games for me and my friends from school against the Penang youth teams at U19 or U21 levels. They also didn’t have any games because of the pandemic - no leagues were running."
“We played them a few times and I did really well. So I went on to do pre-season training with the Penang first team when I was 17 or 18. Once JDT found out about this, they brought me down for a trial and I went straight into the JDT II squad, which is their second team. I signed there within a few days, and I have been a JDT player ever since.”
Citizenship and International Breakthrough
Not only did Tierney join the top club in the country and, arguably, all of Southeast Asia, he also secured Malaysian citizenship, which would soon see him called up to the national U23 squad. Despite having spent almost his whole life in Malaysia, applying for naturalisation was long and complicated, and he is grateful to his new club for helping to expedite the process.
It didn’t take long for him to make his debut for the U23 side and, in November 2024, he made his debut for the senior side in a friendly match against Laos. The following month, he scored his first goal for Malaysia in a 2-2 draw against Cambodia in the ASEAN Championship.
But despite the 22-year-old’s impressive progress, he has a battle on his hands if he wants to establish himself at JDT, having been sent on loan to Thailand for the 2024-25 season - first at Chonburi in Thai League 2, and then at Nakhon Pathom United, a side battling against relegation from the top tier.
“I did pre-season with the JDT first team. I wasn’t quite ready, given the number of experienced foreign players that JDT have"
"The boss and technical director thought it was best for me to go out on loan. While JDT might be the best team in the region, I think the Thai League is the best league in Southeast Asia. To get experience in the Thai League has been perfect for me. I’ve had good games and bad games, but overall I have learned a lot and definitely improved as a player. My goal now is to go back to JDT and hopefully get some first-team minutes next season.”
JDT’s Dominance and Ambitions
JDT - located in southern Malaysia state of Johor - is a club with huge ambitions and great facilities, but the domestic league does not provide them with much of a challenge. They recently sealed their 11th straight Malaysian Super League title and currently sit 15 points clear of their nearest challengers with three games of the season still to play.
“JDT are just getting started. They’re building a new training ground now, but the training ground they currently have for the first team is unbelievable"
"It would easily be up there with teams in the English Premier League and Scottish Premiership. I have been to Murray Park (Rangers training ground) and Lennoxtown (Celtic’s training ground). I think JDT’s is just as good, if not better".
“The gap between JDT and even the second-placed team is pretty monumental. All that JDT can do is to go out and beat what’s in front of them. It’s up to the other clubs to try and follow. Otherwise, the gap is only going to get even bigger.”
Eyes on the AFC Champions League
With domestic dominance having become routine, the club now sets its sights on making an impact in the AFC Champions League. JDT recently suffered an agonising 1-0 aggregate defeat to Thailand’s Buriram United in the Round 16, but Tierney is confident that they will come back stronger, and he hopes to be part of the next campaign in the continental tournament.
“That was a big blow, especially having a good result in the first leg away from home."
"Everyone was expecting JDT to get the job done at home. But that’s football, and I think it’s only going to ignite the fire at the club. Next year, the goal will be to get into the last eight."
“I want to play in the Champions League with JDT - that’s a big goal of mine. If that doesn’t happen, I’d like to play in Japan, where they have a really good league. I don’t really have ambitions to go back to Europe. I like the lifestyle in Asia, my family all lives in Malaysia, and Asian football is growing so much. You can get leagues in Asia that are just as good as some European leagues. And maybe you can have a nicer lifestyle off the pitch as well. I really don’t like the cold, so I’m not in a hurry to go back to Scotland, that’s for sure.”
Comparing Malaysia and Scotland
While Malaysia is home, Tierney is in a good position to compare the level of the game in the Southeast Asian nation with that in his parents’ homeland, especially when it comes to JDT.
“I think JDT would be a Top Three team in Scotland."
"At home, JDT could give everyone in the Scottish Premiership a game, except for maybe Celtic and Rangers. They are the only Malaysian side that could compete at this level - the others are too far behind."
“In pre-season, JDT played against Lokomotiv Moscow and teams in the Spanish second tier, and they gave them good games. I think they won a few games against Russian First Division sides as well. And the Russian League is probably a higher standard than the Scottish Premiership.”
A Blessing in Disguise
Tierney’s sliding doors moment when Covid looked to have deprived him of a shot at the Scottish Premiership may turn out to have been a blessing in disguise. He is now a full international in his home country, at a club he considers to be better than the likes of Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen.
If he can establish himself in that side, it might be the likes of St Johnstone and Motherwell who have cause to lament how Covid deprived them of a striker with considerable potential.
