Greg not ready to be left out in the cold
I’ve played left mid, centre mid, left-back. Being versatile helps you
UPON reaching 100 first-team games before turning 21, having scored against Brazil for the Under-21s and been a first pick for one of the hottest teams in the country throughout 2018, a young man’s thoughts turn to a senior international breakthrough.
Well, they would in any normal circumstances. Instead, Greg Taylor is dealing with a freak episode in Scottish football history.
There are two problems facing the Kilmarnock left-back.
One is Liverpool’s Champions League finalist Andrew Robertson.
The other is £25million-rated, threetime Double Treble winner, 21-year-old Kieran Tierney.
Taylor will today reach a century of appearances for Kilmarnock when Aberdeen visit Rugby Park.
Tomorrow, he will enjoy a milestone birthday dinner with hopefully a positive result for his high-flying club bringing an additional cause for celebration to the table.
Taylor may find these landmark days an appropriate opportunity to reflect on how far he has come since suffering rejection by Rangers at the age of 15 for the old classic brush-off of ‘too small’.
He could also cast his mind ahead to draw up career goals for the immediate future.
It is to his credit that he has no plans to adjust one of those ambitions — to promote himself to the Scotland squad — on account of the seemingly herculean nature of the task.
Robertson and Tierney are not just ridiculously talented. They are annoyingly young for Taylor, whose rate of improvement and progress would otherwise place him in the frame for following his pal on the opposite flank, Stephen O’Donnell, into Alex McLeish’s squad.
‘I’ve got to aim to do that,’ stated Taylor. ‘It would be ridiculous for me to sit here and say I can’t do something like that. Because it would be too negative. They are both cracking players. I’m not daft on that.
‘And they’re hardly getting on, are they? You’ve just got to sometimes put your hands up. But I’ll keep working at club level, focusing on that and, hopefully, international recognition eventually comes.
‘Any games I get to watch, whether it’s the Premier League or whatever, you’ll focus on the left-back. The two guys are playing at a high level. But I wouldn’t say they are role models. They are similar ages to me, so it’s difficult to say that. But they are good players.
‘(O’Donnell) has done brilliant. Credit to him since he came to Kilmarnock. He had a tough time down in England. He’d be the first to say it, but since he’s been with us he’s deserved everything he’s got. I’m delighted for him and hopefully a few of us are next.
‘I’d play anywhere to play for Scotland. I’ve played right-back before. I’m probably stronger on the left but I certainly could give it a go.
‘I’ve played left mid, centre mid, left-back. Being that versatile helps you get to 100 games.’
His 46 games under Steve Clarke in just over a year have seen Taylor aid his manager’s Kilmarnock revolution. Twelve months ago, they earned a first win under Clarke at Tynecastle to move away from the foot of the table.
This weekend they host Aberdeen with genuine claims for challenging Derek McInnes and his four-time runners-up for high rank in the Ladbrokes Premiership by the end of the season.
Form of 74 points under Clarke in 40 games over a year is a consistent tale of achievement that says Killie are built to hang around near the top of the table.
‘I’m pretty speechless when it comes to the gaffer,’ said Taylor. ‘He’s been absolutely brilliant. I can’t thank him enough, can’t praise him enough.
‘He’s been really good for me as a person and us as a team. His attention to detail is second to none. We know our shape, we know what we’re doing with and without the ball. He’s very detailed on the opponents.
‘But the big thing with the gaffer is the focus is on us and what our strengths are and going to tough places like Ibrox and putting that to a strategy and hopefully getting a result.
‘He absolutely trusts the whole team. We’ve got a good team spirit and the gaffer and coaching staff as well. We’re all pushing in one direction.
‘We hit the top six last year, so realistically that’s got to be a bare minimum. We’ve got to aim to do that again.
‘It would be a disappointment, especially with the platform we’ve given ourselves with the first 11 games, if we didn’t.’