During his time as a player with Crystal Palace during the 1970s, Taylor became one of the few players to have been selected for the senior England team when not playing in the top two flights of a domestic league.
Playing career
Taylor enjoyed a successful playing career as a winger. He began his youth career with Canvey Island,[1] and had trials at Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace[2] before signing as a junior with Southend United in 1971.[2] Southend gained promotion to the Third Division in 1972 and Taylor's part in their success brought him to the attention of Crystal Palace manager, Malcolm Allison, who signed him on 11 October 1973[3] for £110,000.[2] Palace were relegated to the third tier at the end of that season, but Taylor was named Player of the Year and remained at the club for two further seasons, becoming player of the year again in 1976.[2] The 1975–76 season was a high point in Taylor's career as Palace reached the FA Cup semi-final, Taylor scoring two goals in the quarter-final in a 3–2 away win at Chelsea[4] and he also made four appearances for the full England team, scoring twice. However, Palace's season tailed off after the semi-final and they did not achieve promotion to the second tier. At the end of the season Allison resigned and was replaced by Terry Venables, and on 30 September 1976[3] Taylor was allowed to depart for top-flight Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £400,000.[2]
Taylor scored on his debut in a 4–2 defeat at The Hawthorns to West Bromwich Albion. He had a mixed career at Spurs; the club suffered relegation in 1977 but was promoted in 1978. Taylor did not make another England appearance and in 1980 moved on to Leyton Orient, having made 123 appearances for Tottenham during which he scored 31 times. He played 56 times for Orient, scoring eleven times in three seasons, and had a brief loan spell at Oldham Athletic. In 1983–84 Taylor made eight appearances for Exeter City before moving into non-league football with firstly Maidstone United, and then Chelmsford City, Dartford[2] and Enfield.[5]
Taylor made his England debut as a substitute versus Wales and scored the winning goal in the 80th minute of that game. He scored his second international goal against the same opponents in the next match that he played.[6] Taylor was the last English footballer to score two goals in his first two international games before Rickie Lambert repeated the feat in 2013.[7]
After his playing career ended, Taylor embarked on a career as a coach and manager.
Management career
Early management
Taylor became player manager at non-league club Dartford. In his four seasons there, club attendances rose from 400 to around 1,000, he won the Southern Cup twice and each season he was there Dartford scored more than 100 goals. Taylor's first managerial role in the Football League was at Southend United. He spent two years between 1993 and 1995 as manager but quit at the end of the 1994–95 season after failing to get them beyond the middle of the Division One table. Taylor took on the job as manager of Conference club Dover Athletic in 1995–96 season and guided the club to 20th, enough to stave off the threat of relegation as only two clubs were relegated that season.
England U-21
He agreed and signed a two-year contract at Dover in May 1996 but was to leave the club only two months later after being asked by then England boss Glenn Hoddle to manage the England under-21 side. His record (for competitive matches) was eleven wins, three draws and one defeat from fifteen games. In this time, England finished ninth in 1998 European Championship and qualified for the 2000 finals comfortably, winning every match without conceding a goal. But with three matches to play, Taylor was replaced in a controversial manner by Howard Wilkinson, who won the next two matches. The three goals conceded in the 3–1 defeat to group runners-up Poland were the only blemish on the team's qualifying record. England under Wilkinson later got knocked out in the group stage of the finals, winning against Turkey but losing to Slovakia and champions Italy.
Gillingham
Taylor returned to club management at the beginning of the 1999–2000 season with Gillingham, and at the end of the season guided them to victory over Wigan Athletic in the Division Two play-off final which marked the Kent club's promotion to the upper half of the English league for the first time in their history. During this season he also guided the Gills to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup after impressive wins over Premiership opposition in Bradford City and Sheffield Wednesday (a brace of 3–1 home wins), before losing 5–0 away to Chelsea in the last eight.
Leicester City
A few weeks later he left the club to take charge at Leicester City in the Premier League. He had an excellent start at the East Midlands club and they went top of the league on 1 October 2000. They stayed at the top of the league for two weeks (Taylor having been voted Premier League Manager of the Month for September 2000) and were in contention for a UEFA Cup place for well over half a season, but nine defeats from their final ten games sucked them down to 13th place in the wake of a shock defeat by Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup quarter-final.[8]
After a terrible start to the 2001–02 season, Taylor was sacked on 30 September 2001.[9]
After being sacked by Leicester, he returned to management within two weeks to take charge at Brighton & Hove Albion whose previous manager Micky Adams had become the new assistant manager of Leicester City. Taylor guided Brighton to the Division Two championship (marking their return to the upper half of the English league after eleven years) but resigned from his job at the end of the season, citing a low budget and the delay to the new stadium.[10]
Hull City
In November 2002 Taylor was appointed manager of Hull City who were weeks away from their move to the 25,404-seat KC Stadium. A mid-table finish was followed in 2003–04 by promotion as Division Three runners-up. They finished League One runners-up the following season, 2004–05, and thus reached the Football League Championship in the 2005–06 season – their first appearance at that level since 1990–91, and they finished 18th in the league.
England U-21 (second spell)
Taylor had returned to manage England's U-21 team for a second spell in 2004, combining the role with his job at Hull. England comfortably progressed from their qualification group for the 2006 finals but lost to eventual semi-finalists France in a play-off over two legs. He initially retained his position after joining Crystal Palace, and the team qualified for the 2007 finals. However, he left in January 2007 as the new senior manager, Steve McClaren, wanted the England U-21 manager's role to be a full-time position. Taylor's record in competitive fixtures in his second spell with the U21s was nine wins, five draws and two defeats from sixteen games.
Crystal Palace
Taylor on the sidelines as Dover Athletic manager.
Success at Hull drew attention from other clubs, and Taylor returned to former club Crystal Palace in June 2006 after Palace agreed a £300,000 compensation package with Hull. He only lasted sixteen months at Selhurst Park as he was sacked in October 2007 after a run of poor form left the Eagles hovering dangerously above the bottom three.[11]
Stevenage Borough
A few weeks after his departure from Palace, Taylor was appointed manager of Conference team Stevenage Borough in November 2007.[12] His first purchase in this role was Junior Lewis, a player he had previously brought into five other clubs (Dover, Gillingham, Leicester, Brighton and Hull).
On 28 April 2008, Taylor left Stevenage Borough after six months in charge when his short-term contract expired and he had failed to get them into the end of season play-offs. They finished the season in sixth place, 22 points behind the champions, having been in third place and just four points off top spot when he took charge.
Wycombe Wanderers
On 29 May 2008, he became Wycombe Wanderers manager, following the resignation of Paul Lambert after their failure to reach the League Two play-off final.[13] He signed Junior Lewis, this time as first team coach.[14] Taylor had a successful start to the 2008–09 season as Wycombe went on an 18-game unbeaten run in the league with promotion to League One being secured on the final day of the season. However, he was dismissed on 9 October 2009 after Wycombe's slow start to the League One season.[15]
Bradford City
On 16 February 2010, Taylor replaced Stuart McCall to become manager of League Two side Bradford City, initially on a three-month contract until the end of the 2009–10 season. Junior Lewis was employed as first team coach, working with assistant manager Wayne Jacobs and youth team coach David Wetherall. Taylor signed a one-year contract at Bradford the day before Bradford played Northampton.[16] In January 2011, Taylor turned down an offer from Premier League Newcastle United to be assistant to their new manager Alan Pardew.[17] After three successive defeats later in the month, Taylor came under pressure but vowed to carry on, saying: "I'm not a fool, I can tell that I'm probably not the most popular manager Bradford City's ever had. I'm not prepared to walk away, I'm prepared to take this difficult job head on."[18] City's run of poor form continued and the following month, Taylor and City parted company by mutual consent; although the announcement came before City's game with Stockport County, Taylor remained in charge for one final time.[19]
Bahrain
On 11 July 2011, the Bahrain Football Association signed Taylor to train the national football team. Just a few months later he led Bahrain to winning the football tournament at the 1st GCC Games in Manama, the first time Bahrain's national team had won a regional competition in their history. Bahrain beat arch rivals Saudi Arabia 3–1 in a one-sided final. Taylor received a lot of praise from the players, fans and officials for his achievement.
Two months later, Taylor successfully led the Bahrainian team to clinch football gold in the 2011 Arab Games in Doha, beating Jordan 1–0 in the final with a last-gasp goal by striker Ismail Abdullatif.[20]
Asked in April 2012 about the arrest and torture of up to 150 pro-democracy athletes, including three of his own players, Taylor told reporters: "Don't go there. You're getting boring."[21]
FIFA had to investigate a match after Bahrain defeated Indonesia10–0, in a World Cup qualifier. Bahrain needed to overcome a 9–0 deficit to have a chance of qualifying for the next stage.[22]
He was sacked on 17 October 2012 after a 2–6 loss to United Arab Emirates in a friendly match.[23]
England U-20
In March 2013, Taylor was appointed as the England national under-20 football team manager on a two-month contract, to lead the team who had qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.[24] In the finals, England under Taylor were knocked out in the group stages, drawing with Iraq and Chile, and losing to Egypt; England finished bottom of their group.[25]
Return to Gillingham
In October 2013, Taylor was appointed Gillingham manager for the second time, on an interim basis, following the club's sacking of Martin Allen. On 11 November he was appointed full-time manager, with a contract lasting until the end of the season.[26] He was relieved of his duties on 31 December 2014.[27]
Kerala Blasters
On 8 May 2015, Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters appointed Taylor as the head coach for the season ahead.[28] However, after four defeats in a row in a then 14 game season put the club in serious cross roads meaning Taylor was manager to sacked in club’s history. On 28 October 2015 Taylor departed as Kerala Blasters gaffer.[29]
New Zealand (assistant) and third Gillingham spell
In September 2016, Taylor accepted the offer to become assistant to Anthony Hudson with the New Zealand men's national football team. Taylor was to be based in England and mainly to work with the New Zealand players based there.[30]
In May 2017 he was appointed as director of football at Gillingham, alongside his New Zealand duties.[31] He was appointed Gillingham's interim manager following the departure of head coach Adrian Pennock on 25 September 2017.[32] He left both roles at Gillingham on 12 October 2017.[33]
Dagenham & Redbridge
Taylor was appointed manager of National League club Dagenham & Redbridge on 5 June 2018, with Terry Harris as his assistant.[34] Taylor left Dagenham & Redbridge in December 2019; the club stated that a change was required due to recent results.[35]
Welling United
On 28 September 2021, Taylor was appointed manager of National League South club Welling United.[36] On 13 March 2022, after 166 days in charge, Taylor departed Welling after a 1–1 draw against Bath City four points above the relegation zone, with bottom club Billericay Town having a game in hand over Welling.[37]
Maldon & Tiptree
On 13 December 2022, Taylor was appointed manager of Isthmian League North Division club Maldon & Tiptree.[38] On 20 August 2023, Taylor left Maldon & Tiptree.[39]
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