From lifeguard to Celtic debut against Rangers – team-mate hails 'unbelievable' Luke McCowan career story

Greg Taylor has hailed the remarkable rise of Luke McCowan.

The new Celtic star has gone from shifts as a lifeguard in Greenock to appearing for a sink-or-swim derby debut. McCowan featured as a sub in the 3-0 win over Rangers less than 48 hours after making his deadline-busting move from Dundee. The 26-year-old won instant praise from captain Callum McGregor for settling straight into his role during the triumph over the Ibrox side.

Taylor, a long-term pal of McCowan, reckons it capped a special ascent in the midfielder’s career. He told Celtic TV: “Luke’s story is unbelievable. He was still working as a lifeguard at 19/20 years old. So the rise in his career is amazing and you can see that when he signed. Even coming onto a game like that, it’s 100mph, so brilliant for Luke and I’m sure his family are delighted.”

McCowan appeared after McGregor had smashed a third goal to seal the success following first-half strikes from Asian duo Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi. Taylor set-up Kyogo’s goal, but shifted all the praise to the Japanese pair for their efforts and also to his scoring skipper.

He said: “Unbelievable, the two of them. We feel so lucky to have them in the team. This guy (Kyogo) has been unbelievable since he first signed. He’s pointing at me after he scores his goal, but there’s one man that deserves the credit there and it’s him.

“Callum is in unbelievable form and another goal. I did wind him up, but there was a touch and he’s trying to deny it! There definitely was a chance to get a few more goals, but important to get a clean sheet as well.

“It was a really good result. We didn't start the game as we would have liked, but once we managed to tweak a few things, I think we had pretty much full control.