Quantcast
Latest News

The wipe out moment that was the making of a future Celtic signing

|
Image for The wipe out moment that was the making of a future Celtic signing

Lee Clark was certain three years ago that Greg Taylor could mix it with the big boys.

The slightly built full-back had just came into the Killie side when they faced a visit from Mark Warburton’s team of stars including Joey Barton and Nico Kranjcar.

The Ibrox pair had probably never heard of Rugby Park or Taylor but by the end of the match Barton in particular knew all about the future Celtic defender.

Footage of the x-rated red card challenge recently resurfaced and while it left Killie to see out the match with 10 men it confirmed to manager Clark that his new left-back was made of the right stuff.

He told The Sun:

I was impressed when I watched him in Killie’s Under-20s and wanted to see if he could handle playing for the first team. At the start of the next season we were at home to Rangers on a Friday night game and Joey Barton was playing for them.

He had this reputation as a hard man and he came up to Scotland saying he was going to be the best player in the Premiership. Greg went in hard on him and was sent off. Now, as a manager, you don’t want to see your players being red-carded — but that typified Greg. No matter how big someone’s reputation was, he was never fazed by them.

Taylor joined Celtic on deadline day after a long drawn out weekend when the deal looked on then went back into the balance.

Over that weekend the stature of Boli Boligoli as a Celtic player was transformed as he starred in Celtic’s derby day success at Ibrox.

Taylor is currently with the Scotland squad but when he joins up with Celtic on Wednesday Neil Lennon looks to have found himself with the dilemma of having two highly competent left-backs battling for one place in the team.

Videocelts Extension Button

Share this article

Online and independent- the only way to be. Enjoying instant news access and reaction, following the trends if not an influencer!