Greg Taylor

He was a good player for us overall, no doubt about it.

He also probably had an upper limit in terms of physicality, which hindered him in Europe.

The way I see it, he’s probably not earned as much as he would’ve liked in football so he needed every penny from this next contract, so he’s took the highest offer.

Celtic, on the other hand, obviously rate him but didn’t want to match the highest offer.

I suspect he’ll be back on day, I can imagine there being a nod to that somewhere. May make some money on this contract he has and then come back as an experienced back up player for league games. He was a positive presence in the dressing room and a good character to have around.

Either way, good luck to him.

 

All the best. Limited physically which gave him a ceiling but was very good for us overall.

 

I liked him as a player for us and was sad to see him leave because KT will need his game time managed properly. However he’s now a legend for that response to Boyd on instagram. Put that fat pie right back in his box. Was up there with “ shut yer hole fat boy”. Hope he proves the doubters wrong in Greece !

 

All the best to him, no ill feelings. Not his fault we couldn't find anyone better until now. Says more about the scouting department than Greg Taylor. Tried his best and had his moments of quality, but ultimately fell short on the bigger stage. Good luck.

 

I was probably one of his biggest critics however there's no denying that he always gave his all and his comeback to fat * Boyd was class. Good luck to him on his new venture

 

Tell you what though. We massively require a very able deputy for KT now. Considering the last 5 years of trying to replace him, what odds we get it right now?

 

Might not even be that either, maybe just wanted to play abroad.

Playing for us is probably high pressure and stress, the schedule is probably one of the worst in football as well the number of games, when you could play in Greece or wherever in nice weather, live in peace with less pressure on you and less games to play and probably longer breaks. Could be thinking go there for 3 years, go somewhere else Croatia, Poland or anywhere for a couple of years and then go to Australia or America and play there for years into your late 30s then retire and live there.

 

If you see AJ talking about the pressure at us, and he is universally loved by the support. AJ is that well liked, he can get an easier ride when he’s not done so well or made a mistake.

Taylor though, he’s never had that grace, he’s needed to have a flawless game and have everything perfect before he even gets credit. Was scapegoated a lot.

If AJ feels that level of mental stress on him, I imagine for a guy such as Taylor it’d be so much worse.

With him being a new Dad, and all the above you’ve said about the perks of living and playing in Greece. It must have seemed a much better option for him and his family, especially when he knows with KT returning he won’t be first choice at LB and this time unlike the rest of his career here he would have no chance of winning the fight for being first choice ahead of him.

 

That's exactly how I see it. Folk are so fixated on his moments of weakness they just cannot bring themselves to acknowledge how important he was overall for us. Hugely underrated player and one we'll miss definitely.

 

If we keep the same shape of midfield that we had all last season, then we will majorly miss him. Him coming in to support Calmac and make space further forward and the angles for passing it quickly to the likes of Hatate occupying that space, then we will.

If we make those in the middle more a compact 3, have two wide attacking fullbacks with AJ and Tierney though? If KT plays a large percentage of games, then it’ll be thank * he’s not here anymore and people will feel validated with how harsh they’ve been on him.

KT is absolutely such a higher level than him, but that inside role that Taylor does he’s not good at, and we shouldn’t try and not play to his strengths.

It’s much better as a barometer to look at how disjointed in midfield we were under Ange, last season, and Rodgers first season when he didn’t want to invert him.

The midfield would work only when he was there to do it.

 

Best of luck to him, and across his time here he contributed a * of a lot. Just a frustrating player for me when he was so good domestically at times but a clear weak link defensively when up against it.

Never doubted his work rate or professionalism though as he lead by example in those departments.

 

A great guy and a decent player but he was a liability against teams at our/or higher level. They targeted his side every single game we played at that level for a reason.

Still think he would have been a decent back-up to Tierney as he was fairly consistent domestically. But i can fully understand his choice to leave as he is to decent to sit on a bench in all honesty. If there ever was a middle ground player in between a starting or bench position it is him.

 

Sorry greg but yer competition was

Bolingoli
Laxalt
Bernabei
Valle

Not exactly world beaters

 

And even a 32 yr old Schlupp benched him. Yes, Schlupp dropped in form later on but i am pretty confident that was due to him not getting a contract.

 

Greg Taylor has described his decision to leave Celtic as the toughest of his career.

The Scotland international joined Greek side PAOK on Tuesday after choosing not to sign a new contract with the Scottish champions.


Taylor made more than 200 appearances and won 11 trophies during his six years at the club, including five league titles and a domestic treble under Ange Postecoglou in 2022/23.

Current manager Brendan Rodgers was keen to keep the left-back in Glasgow, but the return of Kieran Tierney from Arsenal this summer made it likely that Taylor would be used as a backup for his international team-mate next season.

"The toughest decision I've had in my career, definitely," he told Sky Sports News.


When I left Kilmarnock back in 2019, it was that bit easier because I was progressing. I wanted to go and try and play for the biggest team in Scotland.



"I think at that time there probably wasn't many who believed I would play as many games as I did, but the one person that really did was myself, and I was lucky to go and play 200-plus games for Celtic, which was unbelievable.



"It wasn't easy. There were a million things to weigh up, but I just felt it was the right time to do it. I wanted to play regularly, and that's probably the big factor.



There were so many factors in this next move for me, but the key one was I wanted to play regularly, and I felt that that was looking less likely at Celtic.

"I think there's been competition for my place at Celtic in the whole six years I was there, and it was not something I ever shirked from.

"I loved that, it drove me on, it helped me find my best level. So, no, I wouldn't say it was particularly Kieran (Tierney) coming back (that influenced the decision). It was just that I felt that it was probably the right time for me to try something different."



Taylor explains Greek switch
Taylor has signed a three-year contract with PAOK, who finished third in the Greek Super League last season and will begin this campaign in Europa League qualifying.

So, with interest from elsewhere, why did he pick Greece as his next destination?

"As the season went on it was looking more likely that I'd be leaving Celtic, so PAOK, they made a right effort to try and get me over there.

"Just to be shown that love, and the project, and with it being their 100-year anniversary next year, it was just clear it was a big club and an important season. So, I thought it was the time to take the jump.

"At Celtic I've been lucky enough to win a lot of titles, a lot of trophies, and I think that is something that, especially in this season, the club are really eager to do.

"I think it's a totally different culture, totally different league. It's right out of my comfort zone, but I think it's something I'm ready to try and it's exciting.

"There were a few other clubs as well who we had some talks with, but it was just probably the amount of effort that PAOK put in to try and convince me to be part of their club that probably made the decision all that bit easier.

"It is going to be different, but I don't think you gain anything sitting in your comfort zone, so I thought, why not go and try something?"

 

* sake mate, it's no exactly his fault the competition for his place was *. In fact, it shows how reliant we were on him during his time here.

 

Agree here mate, obviously tactically it looks like we'll be switching it up this season with KT being a more traditional full back. Don't think we miss GT in that regard far from it.

I think his intelligence in getting us up the park will be a big loss though. Not that he was always on top form, but when he was playing well his positioning helped us going forward big time. Also some of the forward passes and crosses into the box were sublime.

KT will of course take us to another level in that position but not having Taylor as an option is gutting. Rodgers not mixing things up regularly is something that * me off, so it would have been perfect to have them both.

But not to be. Good luck to the guy and I hope he feels appreciated despite the vitriol he gets because he's been a big player for us.

 

First time in years he’ll be free to enjoy the 12th again