WITH Celtic now truly at the business end of the 2023/24 Premiership campaign, manager Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that when he takes his short break over the summer to recharge his batteries after what has been at times, a poor and quite concerning campaign for a variety of reasons, that we will have again lifted both the Premiership title and the Scottish Cup.
It did not feel like that this may have been the case even a few weeks to months ago given how the injury situation unfortunately tallied pretty perfectly with a significant drop in form and results, and we slipped from leading the title race to chasing it again. However, with 33 games now beyond us, we again have a three point advantage in top spot and goal difference is also in our favour, and with our place in the final secured – well, we have a monumentally huge six games remaining ahead of us and for those who like how to bet soccer this is an interesting time to look at the odds.
Whilst transfer rumour mill speculation kicks up a further gear as the summer nears, it seems quite clear that plenty of things are on hold at Parkhead right now – purely so the only focus for everyone involved is those upcoming matches and nothing else. This applies to Greg Taylor just as much as anyone else right now, as he has recently confirmed that talks over a further contract extension are now stalled until the end of the year so that everyone has a single focus for the coming month.
The 26 year old Hoops ace is heading into the final 12 months of his existing deal, and whilst it is widely believed that the club are very keen to tie him down for longer, talks have been placed on hold prior to them even having really begun. It seems Taylor is fully on board with this approach, as he stated he was unconcerned at the situation right now as he agreed the focus should be on a Premiership and Scottish Cup double right now, and then naturally, everything else will take care of itself when we hit the summer.
A new contract is not the only thing that Taylor will be looking to accomplish when the final whistle goes on the current campaign, he will undoubtedly be wanting to finish on a high, get his new deal more quickly done and dusted, and then turn his attentions to Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the 2024 European Championships.
He acknowledged it had been a long season, particularly with the ups and downs that we had gone through, but he wanted a busy and successful summer as well when it came to international aspirations and involvement.
His chances of being able to do just that will begin on Sunday at Dens Park. A three point advantage is again ours, but that is a narrow buffer zone – simply put, Taylor seems to be fully on board with Rodgers’ recent comments that we must just take it one game at a time, there are 15 points still to play for and then we address the final.
Win all five and we have no concerns, but there are enough games left for the season to go down to the wire, and that is not what anyone wants now.
