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. He had been with the club since the age of seven. 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 I was seven to 16 so it was a big part of my life. I was going there three-four times a week, missing days of schools, and obviously my mum and dad had put a lot into it too. So getting released at 16, it just felt like, 'oh no, after all that effort'. But I was determined I would not stop there. I went to Hull and they offered me a YTS as they obviously saw something. And from 16–18 I shot up in height and then it went back to my footballing ability. From getting released at 16 to making my Premier League debut – if you wrote it down you wouldn't believe it. I owe a lot to (then Hull manager) Phil Brown as he believed in me. I think the academy staff at Leeds must have got a bit of a shock when they saw me playing in the Premier League! I don't know what happened to them but I think they may have got a telling off!"

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…

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 24 May 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 2 weeks, having to work 9–5 and wear a suit and tie. He described this as the "worst two weeks of [his] life!".