Greg Taylor: Playoff drama, beating Brazil and starring for Celtic

However, even the sight of Tierney walking back into the Celtic dressing room would not be enough to faze Greg Taylor. Lots of eyebrows were raised when Neil Lennon raided Rugby Park for Taylor's services back in 2019. After a difficult start to his Parkhead career, it is fair to say that he has nailed down the left-back role and made it his own. Taylor was a mainstay in the Celtic side and 78 appearances under Postecoglou proves that.

He was a vital cog in Ange Postecoglou's machine in the inverted full-back role which saw the Hoops sweep everything before them domestically and reel in five trophies out of six during the Aussie's two-year managerial reign.

New Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers may well have to decide how best to deploy Taylor moving forward but that is an argument for another day. Postecoglou nailed it best when he described the Scotland international in glowing terms.

"Greg is improving because he wants to improve. He is one of these players who, in the past, people have put him in a certain box and classified him as a certain type of player for a certain kind of level," he said.

"Greg is one of those guys who come in every day wanting to be better. Since I have been here, he's really embraced the culture and the environment and wants to be the best footballer he can be."

Given the nature of the current situation at Celtic and some questions about whether he will remain a first-choice pick, it seems worthwhile to hear the opinions of Taylor's former coaches at both club and international levels as well as an ex-teammate to give us the lowdown on the player

Lee Clarke

The former Kilmarnock boss gave Taylor his debut and pitched him right in at the deep end. It was very much a case of sink or swim for the full-back.

"Greg has done well for himself," he stated. "He's a great kid too. He's a cracking lad. When the good ones do well, you're happy for them. He never gives up. He's a little fighter. He's got an unbelievable personality. He's a grafter. If he's got to get his head down and work he'll do it.

"I know Celtic have brought in a couple of new left-backs since he's been there as well and he has had to fight them off. He's kind of brilliant. I cannot speak highly enough of his character. Listen, what he's done is that he's also developed as well under Postecoglou's way of playing with the inverted full-back system. He got into that football method and he loves it. He loves the high tempo and high intensity. He's a terrific young player and a terrific young man who's doing great for himself. 

"He has proved that he is adaptable too as he was a midfield player in our under-21 team at Kilmarnock. He was the captain then and he was a little ferocious thing. I was having issues at left-back. So I just thought, you know, he's left-footed. I spoke to the youth coaches and said he'd had played as a left back for some of the junior teams before, so I thought, well, it wasn't alien to him.

"Greg was outstanding in the playoffs and I knew from then he was going to play. To think Greg's second and third starts for the Kilmarnock first team were in the two-legged Scottish Premiership playoffs.

"If that doesn't show Greg's character, his mentality, then nothing will. They were huge games for the future of the football club and it didn't faze Greg one bit. Greg just went from strength to strength.

"I cannot imagine him, even with the success he's had at Celtic, changing. I'm delighted for him. I still send him a text at odd times to congratulate him on the different milestones he reaches in his career, whether that be winning the trophies and he always gets straight back to me. He is such a great kid.

"Some lads wouldn't be bothered and wouldn't have the characteristics to put up the fight if a new signing came in and others would look to move on. Greg, basically said 'no, I want to be a winner. I want to stay at Celtic. I want to be challenging for the major prizes and I'm gonna fight for my place. Whoever comes in at left-back to Celtic has got a hell of a fight on their hands if they think they are going to dislodge him.' That's his mentality now. 

"One of my big mates is John Carver and the Scotland national team is doing wonderful things since Steve Clarke and John took over, but I am always asking John about Greg playing at that level and he tells me I have nothing to worry about and he's dead right.

"Greg was an absolute dream to work with and I wish him every success at both club and international level as he's earned everything and anything that comes his way."

READ MORE: Cameron Carter-Vickers through the eyes of his former coaches

Scot Gemmill

He was Taylor's international U20s coach when Scotland stunned Brazil in the Toulon Tournament in 2017. Taylor was just 19 at the time and scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory for Scotland, which is the only time the nation has triumphed at any level against the country.

"I think the point I would start with regarding Greg is that his transfer from Kilmarnock to Celtic in 2019 raised a few eyebrows at the time. It is kind of unusual for a club like Celtic to plunder the Kilmarnock left-back. He signed for Celtic shortly after that Toulon Tournament. The point I was making there was I wasn't surprised when Celtic signed him. In my opinion, that was good recruitment by Celtic. There should have been more teams chasing him. I think he did have some other options at the time, actually but to me, that's just good recruitment.

"I've been lucky to work with him at youth-international level with Scotland and I really enjoyed working with him. When you get to work with the players not just as individuals but when you get to work with the best young players in the country, whether it's under 17s, under 19s or under 21s, you do get an insight into their personality, their character and their actual technical level. You find yourself asking all the right questions: Are they strong enough? Are they fast enough? Are they clever enough? Do they want to get better?

"The Celtic supporters who had maybe written Greg off early did not know him. They did not know his personality. You can't judge your player just from what you see. Or should I say you can judge a player from what you see, but it's not as detailed as when you work with him and the mentality of the player counts for so much and the Celtic fans before he came to the club didn't know that and that's where you have to give the players a chance. 

"I would have to put my role in Greg's development into context, though, because I couldn't claim to have helped Greg greatly in his career. He played a very, very small part when he played for the under-21s but what I can tell you is that he was kind enough and humble enough to come to me at the end of the Toulon tournament and thank me and my staff and say that he did feel that we'd helped him and that was fantastic to hear a young player actually say that and take time to do it.

"It's great and I will watch the games on TV with my sons, and I'll say to them, Greg played in Toulon and he scored against Brazil and I'll have a good chat about that with my kids. Greg remains the only Scottish player to have scored a winner against Brazil at any level. It was such a brilliant goal too and it was an important goal for the team in the tournament.

"You are just delighted for the team at the time and you're delighted for the staff. You're also delighted for Greg because, honestly, it could not have happened to a better guy. I was delighted for Greg as well on an individual level. Greg, of course, took it all in his stride because, again, you don't know how the players are gonna react to something like that.

"It all just goes back to my previous point about Greg. When I speak about mentality, you have to want to get better. You have to be willing to do the hard work. You must also be willing to listen and allow the coach to help you. The player also has to be clever enough to understand it and apply it, and Greg has shown that he can and his performance levels at Celtic prove that."

READ MORE: Celtic midfielder Aaron Mooy's journey to the top

Gordon Greer

He was a senior pro when he took Taylor under his wing during his one-year stay in Ayrshire. The former Blackburn Rovers and Brighton defender was impressed by the way the youngster went about his business both at training and on the football field. The duo struck up a close friendship as they formed a tight bond at Rugby Park back in the 2017-18 campaign.

"Greg is simply a brilliant wee guy. He's a top lad. He is a credit to himself and his family. Greg has always just wanted to do well for himself. He is a hard worker and he has set out to achieve in football and fair play to him he has done unbelievably well in his career to date.

"He had a mentality and drive to succeed and he was young when he moved from Kilmarnock. We were doing well and in the top four and playing Europa League qualifiers. It was actually really hard to judge how good he was in that Kilmarnock team, as we were a defensive side. We were hard to beat and very organised. People might not have been able to tell how good Greg was as a Kilmarnock player back then.

"Greg will have learned so much on the defensive side of the game but it took away from the fact that he was an attacking style of player. He has been able to concentrate on the attack a lot now that he's at Celtic as they dominate possession in every other domestic match and that is good to see from Greg's perspective.

"Celtic's inverted full-back system has suited him down to the ground. I never actually knew he had played in midfield because when I arrived at Kilmarnock, he was a young left back and he was good and tidy. He has since blossomed into a brilliant footballer and I loved his attitude and energy in training and it was the exact same on the pitch. You saw more of how good he could be in training because on a Saturday we were very structured in what we did.

"When he went to Celtic, it took him some time to settle in and he struggled to make an impact during the covid season. There was a lot of negativity as Celtic were struggling then but he has since kicked on massively and did great. I have read recently that Celtic are thinking about bringing Kieran Tierney back on loan. You do not need two international left-backs. Most clubs don't, Celtic might. The way that Celtic plays really does suit Greg. I don't think Tierney would have fitted into Postecoglou's system as well as Greg did.

"Greg has changed a lot of people's opinions about him as a footballer, especially the Celtic fans who were initially not sure and were sceptical and thought that the club needed somebody better in that position. The same Celtic supporters not only know the player but they know the person and he is really popular amongst the fan base now. I think it is a Scottish mentality thing to have a downer on certain players and Greg suffered from that attitude for a while. Greg has made the step up and made a real success of it.

"It depends on what Rodgers wants to do with Celtic now but Greg has done a fantastic job at the club and I am really delighted for him. People sometimes say I knew this one or that one would be a star but they don't really know that for certain do they? When you leave a club like Kilmarnock to sign for a massive club like Celtic and the pressure that comes with that, it is a testament to how well Greg has coped. To be fair to Greg, he has stuck in there and dug in and made the left-back position his own.

"What you get with Greg is application, attitude and endeavour and he works hard and he does everything that you would expect of him. He really knows what his strengths and weaknesses are in football. Even armed with that knowledge is a sign of real maturity. You cannot fault him and I would be surprised if anybody in football - teammates and managers - has a negative word to say about him. He has an infectious personality and he is a great wee guy to be around. That's why it is great to see him being so successful with Celtic and Scotland."