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00:00Hello and welcome to Glasgow World's Fitbit Talk, the round-up of Rangers Celtic and any
00:05other news from across the Scottish football landscape involving Scotland's two biggest
00:10clubs and they were back in action this weekend and we'll start on Celtic before we move on
00:16to the Rangers headlines, not a lot to write home about from a Celtic perspective in the
00:20Premiership, we all know they're champion elect and they're going to be lifting the
00:24trophy aloft in May, more so after the game is where the main headlines were, Brendan
00:29Rodgers revealing that Greg Taylor is more than likely to move on now barring a pretty
00:35drastic change in circumstances, Kieran Tierney coming into the club will mean that he firmly
00:41moves into second choice, currently in that role at the minute behind Geoffrey Shrutt
00:45who joined on loan from Crystal Palace in the winter transfer window but amid rumours
00:51of Dynamo Zagreb and a couple of other places it looks as if Greg Taylor will be leaving
00:55Celtic.
00:56Just before we look at what's next Lewis, what's your general thoughts on that, for
01:02me I think he's a good squad player for Celtic, I think he's been a good servant for them
01:08but I think fans feel that they want to go up a level in Europe and I think some wonder
01:14whether Greg Taylor has got that ability to take that step with this team.
01:18Yeah I think that's fair, I think there's been a lot of question marks for a few years
01:23now that he was kind of the weak link in that team, particularly at Champions League level,
01:30maybe kind of hasn't quite impressed on the European stage as much as he has done domestically,
01:36I think he's one of them players that maybe doesn't get the recognition he deserves but
01:43he's been a solid servant for Celtic, albeit I kind of think he's kind of peaked personally
01:50in terms of the level he's playing at, I don't think he's quite Champions League class
01:54and I think if anything they do decide to keep Jeffrey Sloop, turn that kind of loan
01:59deal into a permanent move, I'd imagine that obviously with his experience he's the type
02:04of player we saw already this season didn't we against Bayern Munich that he's more than
02:07capable of filling in should Celtic decide to pursue a permanent move for him.
02:17Yeah I mean I think there's no surprise here, I think with no one having waited for it since
02:20the turn of the year anyway that Taylor obviously in the final six months of his contract, there
02:25was talk of Dynamo Zagreb wasn't there in the January transfer window, it'll be intriguing
02:30to see where he does end up because he doesn't strike me as the type of fullback that would
02:37necessarily go down and play in the English Premier League, I'd be intrigued to see if
02:43he might have a couple of different options abroad but that'll be an interesting one going
02:48forward, I'd imagine as well that given from what we've seen of Jeffrey Sloop it'd be pretty
02:56much a no-brainer wouldn't it for him to stay if Brendan Rodgers was keen to kind of keep
03:00him around, he's been a very impressive addition to the team, he's certainly been thriving
03:06of late, he offers great versatility as well, he can obviously play in midfield and even
03:12if Kieran Tierney is going to be Celtic's first choice left back going forward next
03:17season, you'd imagine that you know obviously his injury records that Sloop was more than
03:23capable of filling in where required, similar to almost like when Rio Hattati joined wasn't
03:30he, he offered that versatility, there was talk that he could play deeper, I know he's
03:34kind of filled in more attacking field role of late but it'll be interesting as to whether
03:40or not Sloop would be potentially happy to play understudy to Tierney I guess but you
03:48know you were at the Trusts Trophy, SPFL Trusts Trophy final on Sunday and there's a potential
03:54other candidate that could enter the equation as well.
03:57Enter the equation, I think probably a bit strong at this stage, I think if this was
04:05to happen then I don't know how particularly pleased Celtic fans would be about it but
04:10Adam Montgomery is obviously on loan at Queen's Park, he's contracted at the club till 2027,
04:16I must admit I think with how far out the picture he seemed to be that I kind of when
04:21I was doing a bit of research before going to the game I kind of thought he was out of
04:24contract at the end of the season, he's still at Parkhead for another couple of years, I
04:28know they beat 5-0 and on the face of it you go well left back played against Livingston,
04:33with all due respect to Livingston they're not exactly a team renowned for handing out
04:36pastings to people so to see him in a defence that shipped 5 going on 7 or 8 you think you
04:43know is that really the quality you're looking for but it was I think if you dig a bit deeper
04:48and you watch the game back he was by far the best Queen's Park player, created a number
04:52of good chances in the first half when the game was still at 0-0 and 1-0, defended really well
04:57against Teti Yenge who was about a foot taller than him, winning headers against him somehow
05:02it looked like he just jumped and just kept rising up until about this guy's head height
05:06because Teti Yenge's 6'4 I think Adam Montgomery's about 5'8 so a bit of a physical mismatch but
05:11dealt with that really well so much so that Teti Yenge's position in the forward line got
05:16changed about a bit because he just wasn't getting any change out of him and I was quite
05:20impressed when he ended up at centre half at times because a few injuries ended up at left
05:24mid at a time so I think if I think unless the plan is for him to go out on loan and then you
05:30sell him in the summer I think you need to at least assess what you've got there he obviously
05:34contributes to the UEFA quota which by the looks of it Stephen Welsh won't be doing next season
05:40he's out on loan in Belgium his future looks a bit uncertain so I do wonder whether if Adam
05:45Montgomery comes into the fold I think now would be the time to see whether he is going to cut it
05:51itself they handed him a new three extended his deal in 2024 to 2027 they must rate him somewhat
05:58he's quite highly rated under Andrew Postacoglu so I think if you're going to see now's the time
06:03give him a few pre-season friendlies give him a couple of shots in the premiership early on in
06:09August see how he does because you're not necessarily thinking that he's going to go and
06:13play at the Champions League level not yet anyway but it would mean that when you've got Kieran Tierney
06:19he can play those eight games and you've got somebody there who can then come into the next
06:22premiership game because I suppose I'll flip I'll turn host again I'll flip the Geoffrey
06:28Schlupp stuff to you and that do you think he's a viable option I suppose for the here and now
06:33if Adam Montgomery's potentially going to be you know there as an option and to rotate in and out
06:41obviously the big thing with Kieran Tierney is his injury record will he break down again
06:46will he not still to be seen he's going to need to be managed very carefully in any respect
06:51is Geoffrey Schlupp shown enough that he'd be worth a permanent deal if Celtic can thrash him
06:57I believe so I believe so I've been really impressed with him and every time I've seen him
07:02I guess the slight concern for Rodgers might be the fact he is 32 and he was kind of viewed in
07:08January it's very much a kind of short-term cover there with obviously Taylor and obviously the
07:16situation surrounding him Alexander Burnaby of course left in January as well so they were kind
07:20of short in that area of the pitch but you know this is a player who's played at the highest level
07:26in England and got vast experience under his belt and been very impressed with them particularly
07:34in the Champions League games since the turn of the year as I said across those two games
07:40against Bayern Munich I thought he was one of Celtic's best players so I think he does enter
07:46the equation I guess and be intrigued to see what the wage kind of bill would be like given that you
07:54know Schlupp we'd imagine will be on high wages and Kieran Tierney likewise you know coming from
08:00Arsenal he'll obviously be taking a drop in wages there but you know that arguably too if Celtic
08:08were to have those two players competing for that position going forward you'd imagine that in terms
08:13of the salaries they'll be on it could be the highest that Celtic have ever had in that area of
08:19the pitch.