Taylor’s green light
GREG Taylor is in contention for a Celtic debut against former club Kilmarnock at Parkhead tomorrow.
The £2.2million signing has yet to make an appearance since his late deadline-day switch.
But an injury to Belgian left-back Boli Bolingoli looks set to hand the 21-year-old Scotland international his first start in green and white.
Explaining Taylor’s absence from his squad for Thursday’s 1-1 draw in Rennes, manager Neil lennon said: ‘Greg hadn’t played for a while and did a lot of conditioning work, but Bolingoli’s form has been good and, when you’re looking at your
bench, (Jonny) Hayes can play a number of positions. ‘That’s why Greg wasn’t in the squad but with Boli being out for maybe a couple of games, he could be in contention to play. ‘Boli won’t be fit for Sunday and will probably miss Partick Thistle (in the Betfred Cup quarter-final on Wednesday). ‘He might be fit for Hibs on Saturday week, but Greg is a contender for Kilmarnock.’ A point in France equalled a Celtic club record of five straight games unbeaten away from home in Europe. During his first spell as manager, Lennon’s side went undefeated against Rennes, Udinese, HJK Helsinki, Helsingborgs and Spartak Moscow. This is the first time Celtic have gone five without loss in the same season, however, and avoiding defeat against Lazio in Rome on November 7 would establish a new landmark. ‘There were a couple of Europa League away games in my first spell that helped with confidence,’ recalled Lennon. ‘Udinese away and, while we lost to Atletico Madrid, we played really well on the night. ‘It was a question of building that team, but this team is already more rounded and polished. ‘It’s not a question of being in this (Europa League) to build — we’re in this now to compete and that’s the difference between the two teams.’ Keen to preserve Celtic’s unbeaten domestic run against a Kilmarnock side showing signs of improvement after a poor start under new boss Angelo Alessio, Lennon believes early criticism of Steve Clarke’s successor was unfair. ‘It’s a difficult start, but it always is when you come in and fill big shoes,’ said Lennon. ‘Angelo had huge shoes to fill in terms of
what Steve did at Kilmarnock. He is now seeing the results starting to blossom and we always have a difficult game against Kilmarnock. ‘This guy (Alessio) has a good pedigree. For me, Billy Bowie (Kilmarnock owner) is very shrewd. The appointment of Clarky was a masterstroke and Angelo could turn out to be the same. ‘There are always knee-jerk reactions in football now. Managers are under pressure after three or four games. It’s crazy. ‘It just flips like that. Then, all of a sudden, everything is rosy again. It’s not real.’ Lennon cites the clamour for blood before tomorrow’s Edinburgh derby as a case in point, with his successor at Hibs, Paul Heckingbottom, and Hearts boss Craig Levein both under pressure. ‘I don’t know where the thinking comes from,’ he added. ‘Last season, Craig reached a cup final, a semi-final and secured top six. He had a good season. ‘But I heard one pundit saying there had been a deterioration for a long time. It’s rubbish. ‘Craig has had four or five games where he hasn’t had his best team on the pitch, has had a couple of big players injured and, like he said last week, he’s only six points off fourth place. ‘Obviously, they both need results and it will be interesting watching it. But it’s far too early to talk about managers losing their jobs.’ Celtic, meanwhile, have been fined £11,000 by UEFA after fans ignited flares and threw objects during last month’s Europa League play-off win over AIK Stockholm in Sweden. UEFA’s control, ethics and disciplinary body considered charges against the Parkhead club yesterday, imposing a 15th fine in eight years on Celtic.