Greg Taylor has opened up on the family feeling within the Celtic dressing room.
And the Parkhead ace believes it’s a strength of bond which has been key in pushing his team towards the brink of winning the Premiership.
Boss Ange Postecoglou has put great store on personality as he’s rebuilt the squad.
The Aussie had a major transition to oversee and the first task was to find players with the ability to mount challenges for silverware.
However, as well as talent, Postecoglou has spoken openly about the need to find the right characters.
The Aussie has combed the entire globe to find pieces for his jigsaw.
Postecoglou went to Japan to capture a quartet including top-scorer Kyogo Furuhashi. He went to the Russian league to sign a Swede in Carl Starfelt.
Liel Abada from Israel, Jota from Portugal. USA international Cameron Carter Vickers. Into Poland to sign Croatian Josip Juranovic. To Holland to capture Greek Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Gelling them into a cohesive unit on the pitch is a major task in itself.
But the way the squad has gelled off it seems just as big a factor in Postecoglou’s success so far.
Celtic players fight for each other. They support someone fighting to take their own position off them. They even imitate each other’s goal celebrations. It might seem simple, but it matters.
Taylor loves being part of it all and said: “The gaffer has touched on the fact we have signed good people, which is important.
“We have a strong changing room and everyone is out there fighting for each other.
“We tried to build almost a family and I think we have done that this year.
“Everyone in that changing room has got ability that they can bring to the table, but there’s also good people in there.
“People have been thrown in at the deep end. Carl played his first league game without having even trained.
“There have been difficult moments, but no-one has ever looked for excuses and we still won’t.”
Naturally, it takes glue to stick everything together and, in that sense, Taylor is part of the welcoming committee.
Captain Callum McGregor has been through all emotions at Parkhead having been there since school. James Forrest has been part of it for 13 years. Nir Bitton is approaching a decade. Tom Rogic the same in terms of service.
Taylor himself has been around for long enough to know what’s required and said: “We have a core of experienced boys. Callum, Joe Hart, Tom, Nir. People who have been there.
“So it helps to have them in the team and the rest of us just follow suit from the example they have set.”
Perhaps it’s that family feeling that ensures that, whatever is said in the privacy of the household, it doesn't go beyond the four walls.
With four games to go, Celtic have a six-point lead on the title race.
If they beat Rangers on Sunday, they will just about be over the line with a mammoth goal difference of 19 currently in their favour.
Lose to the Ibrox side and Celtic will still be odds-on to finish the job in the final three games against Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell.
But, if anyone is talking about the title, it’s staying firmly indoors around the kitchen table.
One game at a time, one game at a time. It’s a popular mantra amongst footballers and managers and it’s the rigid line from Parkhead right now.
Postecoglou always says that looking too far ahead is asking to trip over and his players are not going to slip into the trap.
Taylor’s team are only looking at Rangers. The next game. Just as they kept, in the words of their boss, laser focus to beat Ross County in Dingwall on Sunday to stay on course for the cherished prize.
The left-back said: “It was an important one to win. We had five big league games left and that was the first of them, so it was important to put on a performance and the result would, hopefully, take care of itself if we did.
“It is always crucial. Every game is crucial and the next game is a home one for us, so, hopefully, we’ll go and get another one.
“It’s just the next game, so it’s the most important. Ross County as the most important and we got the three points so now we’ll focus on the next one.
“I would say all of the last five games are difficult. Any team that has made it to the top six deserves to be there and we looked at it [County] because it was the next.
“We had a strong first-half and could have been a few more goals out of sight, but we didn’t manage to do that.
“Ross County came into it and we knew they would. They pressed up. They’ve had a great season and we were under no illusions it was going to be difficult and it was.
“We have moments throughout the season where we have had disappointing results. Last weekend was one of them.
“In a cup competition, you get no second chances, so we had to go out and get Ross County and start well and we did that.
“We have strong beliefs at the club in the way that we want to play and try to not go too far away from those. When we do, that’s normally when we come unstuck. But we stuck with our beliefs and it showed late on.”
