Luke McCowan shares what Greg Taylor was like in the Celtic dressing room, which was unexpected

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Greg Taylor’s final season in Celtic colours was an interesting one.

There was one point when Brendan Rodgers had to come out and publicly defend the player after some backlash from fans.

Taylor divided opinion like no other, and his contract was a huge talking point as Celtic were pushing for a Treble, and in the end, won the double at the end of the season.

As expected, Taylor left Celtic; he didn’t sign a new contract, and he ended up signing on the dotted line for Greek side PAOK.

There were many interesting reactions to the 27-year-old’s exit, including from his teammate and close friend Luke McCowan.

• READ MORE: ‘Amazing’ – Luke McCowan delighted with Celtic’s transfer call on ‘big character’

Luke McCowan on Greg Taylor’s leadership qualities at Celtic

McCowan signed for Celtic last summer on transfer deadline day from Dundee, and he already had great knowledge of the club because he is a boyhood fan.

Say what you want about Taylor, nobody knows him better than those who share a dressing room with him, and McCowan was left surprised by one of his qualities.

The attacking midfielder told Celtic TV that PAOK’s new star was ‘all about that mentality’ and he ‘didn’t realise to the level of leadership’ he had in his locker.

“Listen, Greg, the impact he had on that changing room was immense,” explained McCowan. “He was somebody who was the biggest character. He had the biggest laugh, but as soon as he crossed that white line, it was all serious mode.

“It was all about that mentality. The first thing I told people I signed was the shift that I had from him being somebody I knew to, ‘oh, he’s a leader in here.’ Something I probably didn’t expect.

“He was a great player when I played against him or whatever. But I didn’t realise to the level of leadership he had to that point. It will be severely missed in there. Just his voice around the place.

“He helped me massively settle in. He helped me settle so quickly. Just having him around the place to have normal conversations with, to take any pressure off, coming here as a new player. He just helped so much with that. I owe him a lot of thanks.”

Taylor following in Emilio Izaguirre’s footsteps

Celtic have been blessed to have some high-quality left-backs on their books, including former hero Emilio Izaguirre.

When initially talking about Taylor’s exit, McCowan brought up the Scotland international replacing Izaguirre in that role, and doing a ‘tremendous’ job of it.

“I was hoping you weren’t going to mention it,” joked McCowan about the topic of Taylor’s exit. “Tissues in the pocket.

“Aye, (Taylor was tremendous during his time at Celtic). It’s really, really understated the impact he had when he came through here. His predecessor had been Izaguirre, and it was a hard one to follow, being the number three before him.”