Tom Cairney

Cairney made his return the following week at home to Huddersfield coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute for teammate Corry Evans.

He made his debut in a 1–1 draw against Derby County, as a 77th-minute substitute for Alex Marrow.

Two days later, Cairney made his full debut for the club in an eventful League Cup clash with Carlisle United, scoring one and providing one assist, before being sent off for the first time in his career after two bookable offences.

Thomas Cairney (born 20 January 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Fulham, which he captains.

Cairney has previously played for Hull City and Blackburn Rovers.

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 relegation, Cairney began to establish himself in the first team in the 2010–11 season.

He scored one goal, a curling free kick against Norwich City that helped Hull to their first away victory in 30 games.

Despite suffering an injury, Cairney made the total of 23 appearances during the 2010–11 season.

In January 2011, he signed a contract extension with the club, keeping him until 2013.

In the 2011–12 season, Cairney continued to feature in the first team and then set up a double assists, in a 3–2 win over Watford on 22 October 2011.

Despite suffering a foot injury, Cairney made a total of 29 appearances for Hull in the 2011–12 season.

He then scored his first goal of the season on 7 January 2012, in a 3–1 win over Ipswich Town in the third round of the FA Cup.

At the start of the 2012–13 season, Cairney played the vital role, in a 3–2 loss against Doncaster Rovers in the second round of the League Cup on 28 August 2012, when he set up two Hull City's goals in the match.

However, during the match, he sustained a serious knee injury, following a reckless tackle by Doncaster's James Husband in a League Cup tie.

Steve Bruce later described the challenge as a "horror tackle".

After over three months out injured, Cairney returned to fitness on 8 December 2012, appearing on the bench for Hull's away victory over Watford.

In the third round of the FA Cup against Leyton Orient on 5 January 2013, Cairney set up a goal for Nick Proschwitz, in a 1–1 draw to lead to a third round replay.

In the third round replay, he scored a winning goal, in a 2–1 win to send them through to the next round.

Although he appeared less and remained on the substitute bench for the rest of the season, Cairney went on to make a total of 14 appearances and scoring once for the side, as Hull City were promoted to the Premier League.

On 1 August 2013, Cairney joined Blackburn Rovers on loan until January.

Born in England, he made his full international debut for Scotland in March 2017.

Cairney had previously represented Scotland at under-19 and under-21 levels.

Cairney was born and raised in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, to a Scottish father, who worked as a miner and then as a taxi driver.

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.

He described this as the "worst two weeks of [his] life!"

and had to work 9–5 in a bank and wear suit and tie for two weeks.

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!"