The Greg Taylor “wage demand” is overblown. Celtic can’t pay that to a backup player.

Yesterday, Stephen McGowan published details about Greg Taylor’s wage demands—and, for good measure, Kieran Tierney’s as well. My first thought was to wonder how McGowan thinks he knows this information. There was a time when he was Lawwell’s pet and would have been fed scraps like this to keep him sweet.

But if it’s true that Tierney wants £35,000 a week and Taylor is asking for £25,000 a week, only one of those things is going to happen—and it won’t be Taylor getting £25,000 a week. Let’s be honest: that’s a lot of money for a player like Greg Taylor.

No disrespect to Greg, but we all know his limitations. Tonight, he’ll play his 200th game for the club, which deserves massive credit, but £25,000 a week is money we could spend better elsewhere.

We simply can’t afford to pay that to a player who is, essentially, a backup, and that’s how Taylor should be thought of going forward. We’ve spent long enough acting as if improving the left back slot is some intractable problem without an answer … there is an answer, and we have to be way down the road of putting it in place.

People who claim we can afford to pay Taylor and players like him this kind of cash don’t understand financial sustainability regulations. We can’t pay backup players that kind of money.

Under these regulations, we can only spend a percentage of what we earn on wages and transfers. That means spending money carefully, and agreeing to inflated wage demands like this is the opposite of careful.

This is also why I’m so sceptical about the idea of signing Tierney. Those dismissing it as a “low-risk” move need to get real and think about it in the context of financial sustainability. Is that a risk we can afford to take?

We’re currently taking steps to reduce the number of players on our books, which is necessary if we’re going to improve. It’s also essential if we’re to sign more players in this window. Every player on the books represents wages eating into what we’re allowed to spend. Too many people look at the £70 million surplus—or whatever figure we currently have in the bank—and think we can just spend it. That’s not how it works.

We’re comfortably within the regulations as things stand, but we could be even more secure and fortified against a season or two without the Champions League, if God forbid we end up in that position.

I don’t think anyone at Celtic wants us to be anywhere near testing those limits. Every penny has to be accounted for, and every decision must be the right one. I genuinely believe we can do better for £25,000 a week than Greg Taylor. I also think we can do better for £35,000 a week than taking a risk on Kieran Tierney.

If it comes down to one of those deals—and the club really is interested in Tierney—I think that’s the one they’ll prioritise. I have no doubt about that. But having both of them on the books, earning £60,000 a week between them? That’s hard to justify. It’s a lot of money to commit.

I know Brendan Rodgers wants Taylor to stay, but this is what negotiations are for. You’ve got to find a happy medium—something the club can live with. This isn’t about penny-pinching; it’s about resource management.

The player needs to be realistic, and so does the club. The solution is likely somewhere in the middle. But I don’t think McGowan or anyone else is doing Taylor any favours by publishing this kind of information. Negotiations should be between the club and the player. The final number is nobody’s business as long as the club can afford it and it fits within the budget.

For the record, I like Greg as a squad player and would very much like to retain him—if it’s possible on a sensible deal. Especially if we’re signing Tierney, we’ll need a strong backup, and Greg would be a good one to have. My respect and admiration for what he’s achieved at Celtic is not in question.

But this has become an all-consuming topic when it shouldn’t be. This should be a straightforward negotiation. If the club and Greg are on the same page about his value and how he sees his own worth, this deal would already be done. Clearly, there’s a fundamental disagreement somewhere. If it’s going to get resolved—and if these reported numbers are accurate—it’s Greg who will have to come down a little.

Photo by ANP via Getty Images

The other day we put up our latest podcast … The Calm After The Storm. Please show your support by liking, watching and sharing it.