Tom Cairney

Early career

Cairney started his football career at Nottingham Forest. At the age of 7, he was signed by Leeds United. Cairney was released from the Leeds United youth system at the age of 16 after being told he was too small. Reflecting on his time at Leeds United, he said: "To be honest it crushed me, it crushed me a lot, I was with Leeds from when I was seven to 16 so it was a big part of my life. I owe a lot to (then Hull manager) Phil Brown as he believed in me."

Hull City

Hull City gave Cairney a chance when they signed him to a youth contract in 2007. Cairney was named as Hull's Young Player of the Year for the 2008–09 season. For this, he signed a two-year contract with the club in June 2009. He played for Hull against Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the pre-season Premier League Asia Trophy in Beijing on 31 July 2009. His first-team debut came against Southend United in the League Cup on 25 August 2009, when he opened the scoring with a curling long-range effort as Hull won 3–1. He went on to make his Premier League debut on 30 January 2010 in a 2–2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 7 March 2010, Cairney scored his first league goal for Hull in a 5–1 defeat against Everton, an impressive volley from outside the area. Cairney signed a new three-year contract with the club on 31 March 2010. Having been given a first team opportunity later in the season, he made the total of 14 appearances and scoring once for the side. Following Hull's…

Youth career

Cairney is eligible to play for Scotland through his Scottish father. He continued to be eligible to play for England, and his Hull City captain George Boateng described Cairney as being potentially a "huge asset to the national team of England". However, he said that his loyalty belongs to Scotland, even if England approached him. Cairney was called up by Scotland national under-19 team for the first time in September 2009. He made his Scotland U19 debut, where he started and played for 50 minutes before being substituted, in a 3–1 loss against Iceland U19 on 9 September 2009. For the Scotland U19 side, Cairney went on to play two times. Then, on 11 August 2010, Cairney was called up by Scotland under-21 side for the first time He made his debut for the against Sweden on 11 August 2010. Cairney then scored his first Scotland U21 goal on 10 August 2011, in a 3–1 win over Norway. He made a total of six appearances for the Scotland under-21s between August 2010 and February 2012.

Senior team

Cairney earned his first call up from Scotland national team in March 2017. Following his first call up from the senior side, Cairney said he wanted to establish himself in the Scotland national team. He made his full international debut in a 1–1 draw with Canada in a friendly. His second cap was in 2018 in another friendly, this time against Costa Rica.

Club

As of match played 31 October 2026

International

As of match played 23 March 2018

Thomas Cairney was born in Nottingham Nottinghamshire, but moved to and was raised in the town of Selby in North Yorkshire after his family relocated there during his time in the Leeds United Academy. He was raised by a Scottish father, who worked as a miner and then as a taxi driver and postman. He also revealed that his father would take him to Scotland and watch Celtic as a youngster. When he was about 15 or 16, he worked for Barclays Bank for work experience for two weeks. He described this as the "worst two weeks of [his] life!".