IT may be fair to say that Greg Taylor had a bit to do to win over the Celtic fans upon his arrival from Kilmarnock three years ago. Whether it was the unfashionable club he was signed from, his slight build and lack of height, or the fact he was tasked with filling the boots of Kieran Tierney, the left-back wasn’t instantly taken to the hearts of many supporters.
Slowly but surely, he has started to win them round. From the start of last season, just as Anthony Ralston did on the other side of the defence, Taylor has taken to the unique demands that new manager Ange Postecoglou places on his full-backs with relish and has thrived in the inverted role he has been tasked to perform.
So much so that when Celtic invested £3.5m bringing in a new left-back this summer in Alexandro Bernabei from Lanus, the question being asked wasn’t whether or not this spelled the end for Taylor’s place in the starting XI, but whether Bernabei would be able to oust him from the team.
Thus far - though admittedly, it is early days for the Argentine - he has been unable to do so, with Taylor producing standout performances in both of Celtic’s opening Premiership fixtures; the home win over Aberdeen and last weekend’s triumph at Ross County.
The fact that Celtic manager Postecoglou has the luxury of bedding Bernabei into life at the club slowly is testament to the trust he has been able to place in Taylor, and the presence of such competition also looks to have pushed Taylor on to take his game to the next level.
Constant improvement is the mantra at Lennoxtown under the Australian, of course, and Taylor perhaps embodies that ethos as much as anyone in the Celtic squad. And if the Celtic fans are now appreciating his talents, it is probably because he is a far superior player to the one that first walked in the door back in 2019.
When asked how much he has improved since arriving at the club, he told Celtic TV: “Insane amounts to be honest, just from the amount that I have learned from the moment I signed to this day.
“Every day we try and get better – it’s a mantra of the manager, don’t ever waste a minute of a training session or a game, so I try to continue to do that and try to improve every day.”
Taylor admits though that his Celtic journey hasn’t always been easy, being just as aware of the flak he has taken at various points of his time at the club as he is now cognisant of the praise he is earning.
“You do notice it,” he said. “Whether you try to avoid it or not, people send you the good or the bad. It’s an unfortunate – or fortunate – thing of living in Scotland and Glasgow. So it’s nice when things are going well and getting all these plaudits.
“It means a lot, of course, but you can’t really let it affect you either way. Just keep the focus on what you are doing and what the manager wants from you, and pretty much throughout my Celtic career, that’s what I’ve tried to do.
“The gaffer has a system in place that we all try to follow. We all have a small part to play within that and if we all do that and give ourselves to the team, we can all be relatively successful.”
The next step for Taylor is a return to his old stomping ground on Sunday, as Celtic look to maintain their winning start to the season against Derek McInnes’s Kilmarnock side.
Taylor will always appreciate the role the Rugby Park outfit played in his career, he is going there intent on one thing and one thing only; putting his old team to the sword.
Celtic manager Postecoglou expressed a little concern on Tuesday that the artificial pitch may hamper his team’s preferred style, but Taylor is sure that he and his teammates can put on a show for the huge support that will follow them to Ayrshire.
“It was an important stage in my career and I’m very grateful to the managers who gave me a chance there and I would like to think that I’ve repaid their faith in me,” he said.
“It was a successful period when I was there, but I’m now looking forward to going back as a Celtic player aiming to get the three points.
“We’ll just prepare the way we always do, train hard this week. It’s another good week’s break between the games so a good chance to get work into the legs of the boys who have been playing and not so we are all ready as a group for the game on Sunday.
“Winning is the best feeling in the world. We don’t want to lose that feeling. We want to do it with our football, that’s important.
“We’ve got a way of playing and a way we like to express ourselves and it’s important to express ourselves and win, it can’t be one or the other, it has to be both.”
