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HonoursPlayer Info In doing so Steven Taylor established himself as a firm fan favourite and a player with real potential who many are tipping to one day lead the club. Here we profile the youngster who plays like a man. Starting out Born in Greenwich London to Geordie parents, Steven Taylor was raised on Tyneside and grew up a Geordie having moved back to the Toon a few months shy of his 1st birthday. With a United daft fatha, Taylor's love affair with the Magpies started at an early age and so did his interest in playing the game. His da, with a season ticket behind the Gallowgate goal, soon got his son one - taking him along to every home match for a few years and a few away games in the League and Europe too. In between cheering on the lads, young Taylor who was also a Newcastle ball-boy at one time, daydreamed of one day playing at St. James' Park. And by the time he was 5 Taylor was already showing promising signs that his dreams could become more than that and before too long he was soon playing for his school side before stints with Whitley Bay Juniors where Michael Bridges started out, Wallsend Boys Club and Cramlington Juniors FC - two of Alan Shearer's former clubs. So he was in good company there. A tall, strapping youth Taylor initially started out as a centre-forward and grew up idolising Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand and in later years Alan Shearer, all great strikers to try and emulate. But it wasn't long before he would switch his allegiances from the goalscorers union. As luck or perhaps fate would have it, on his first training session with Cramlington, Newcastle United scouts were watching and the place was buzzing amongst the youngsters, Taylor in particular who relished the added pressure of being under 'close scrutiny'. John Carver was United's scout at the time and the Geordie man, after one training session, liked what he had saw and invited Taylor to join up with Newcastle boys, eventually signing him up. The youngster's future hopes of running out at St. James's to the tune of Local Hero had moved up a notch or two. Newcastle Academy Arriving at Newcastle as a 9 year-old with lots of other players his age Taylor was the only one from the group who would go on to see the completion of the Magpies multi-million pound state-of-the-art Academy some years later, testimony of his ability. Indeed, such was his talent he was tipped in many circles to have a great chance of making it at the club even as far back as then - but not as a No.9 as he had once dreamed of becoming. Vince Hutton, the team manager at the time, had decided to shift Taylor to centre-half after a bout of injuries in that department forced his hand. The Geordie lad was 12 and since he could learn to walk all he wanted to be was as a striker, but he soon grew to love his new position and his performances in matches at the back convinced him that was where his future lay. From watching Cole and Co. Taylor started to take a closer look at Philippe Albert and Arsenal centre-back Tony Adams instead, watching endless tapes of the two in action from Match of the Day and Sky Sports. He would try and take bits from each of their game and add it to his own. He loved how Albert would bring the ball out of defence and link up with midfield where as with Adams, Taylor saw the Gunners legend as the ideal player to base his defensive game on. Down went the Cole and Ferdinand posters and up went Adams' and Albert's. Coupled with his own understanding of strikers having started out as one, if he worked hard and applied himself in training and out on the pitch, he was convinced he'd make it as a defender. And so too were others. At 16 Taylor's reputation was growing after successful spells with England school boys, becoming Captain of the side. Both Manchester United and Arsenal were keen to snap him up with Sir Alex Ferguson in particular very keen, instructing his scouting staff to move in and bring the boy to Old Trafford. "But there was no way I was ever leaving here", Taylor insisted and he dully signed a professional contract with Newcastle in the summer of 2002. Wycombe Wanderers At 17 and impressing for United's reserves, Newcastle decided to farm out their highly rated youngster to Wycombe Wanderers on a 2 month loan-deal during the 2003-04 season. It was a great move for Taylor, not only would he get first team-football but he would also get to work with his big hero Tony Adams who was manager of Wycombe at the time. Taylor played six games all in all for the relegation threatened outfit and put in a few outstanding displays in the heart of defence which left Adams drooling about Taylor the "fantastic prospect". Adams went on to claim that Taylor was a much better all-round player at his age than he was himself and predicted that the United defender would one day play for England. High praise indeed! In his short spell under Adams' tutelage, Taylor learned a great deal, revealing. "Adams told me that I should be confident in my own ability, aim to win your one-on-ones, always clear your lines and be resilient. "I had a few defending sessions with him and we even practised the offside trap; the full monty when we all had our arms in the air." Newcastle first-team Arriving back at Newcastle from his loan stint at Wycombe, Taylor soon found himself on the bench for a few games as injuries decimated United's squad and with the Toon coasting 3-0 up away to Real Mallorca in the UEFA Cup after a 4-1 first leg win back in March 2004, the United youngster's dreams become a reality. Replacing Andy O'Brien in the 81st minute Taylor got his first taste of first-team action for his beloved Magpies, and in Europe too. He could barely sleep that night. And just 3 days after his cameo in Spain Taylor made his full debut for Newcastle, coming in at right-back for the Magpies visit to the Reebok stadium to face Bolton Wanderers. Yet despite being at fault for what turned out to be Bolton's winner just 5 minutes into his Premiership baptism of fire, Taylor performed admirably in an alien position and ended the match as United's best player. A bright spot in an otherwise awful team performance. "It was fantastic for me to make my debut and great to play 90 minutes, but the pace was a lot quicker than I’m used to, but is something that I’ll learn to deal with", Taylor said. Taylor was a bit of an unknown in Newcastle and being a defender he wasn't an obvious star of the future, although one or two United fans had waxed lyrical about this "gem in the making" from his Academy and later reserve performances, but in general, not many had heard of him. However In football many scouts up and down the country were acutely aware of Newcastle's "future international" and it wasn't long before rumours started to circulate that other clubs were interested in United's young defender. With Liverpool in particular very keen. The then Anfield manager Gerrard Houllier even took the liberty of personally watching Taylor a few times whenever Newcastle's reserves were playing in and around Merseyside and in deliberate attempt to unsettle the player, leaked media reports of a multi-million pound swoop soon appeared not long after. Newcastle response to the speculation was met with a simple and emphatic "no chance". As a result Taylor's contract was restructured with appearance clauses inserted as an incentive to the youngster. Not that a local lad needed any encouragement. Going nowhere and expected to make more of an impact, the following season didn't start too well for Taylor. Injury at the start of 2004-05 came at the worst possible time for the player and Newcastle. Having sold Jonathan Woodgate to Real Madrid and with Andy O'Brien, Robbie Elliott and Titus Bramble all out injured at various stages of the campaign - missing many games between them - United were forced to bring in veteran centre-back Ronny Johnsen to plug the gaps. A missed opportunity for Taylor. Had he been fit he would have played a good few games. But once he returned from injury, he soon made his way into the first-team for United, clocking up a total of 22 games both domestically and in Europe. At one stage the Newcastle youngster started 14 games in succession and finally got to run out at St. James' Park. Now he is the local hero. It had been quite a year for the youngster. Establishing himself in a side with millions of pounds worth of talent, he didn't look out of place, in fact he often looked the best player on the pitch winning a few man of the match awards for his performances along the way. Over 6 ft tall, with a big frame and even bigger shoulders, Taylor stood out like a sore thumb and gave United something they had lacked at times, much needed strength and power in a severely depleted area of the pitch. Covering every position at the back Taylor's versatility was also a big bonus for manager Graeme Souness who's side were badly hit by injuries for the most part of the campaign and with his whole-hearted displays, the crowd soon took him to their hearts. United fans love nothing better than to see one of their own wearing the shirt. With season 2005-06 upon us Taylor will once again be looking to feature in the first-team whether it be at centre-half, right-back or at left-back and the reassuring thing for his manager and Toon fans is that he won't let anyone down. Having passed the 20 appearance clause that was inserted into his contract the club and player are currently discussing a new and improved contract and it's imperative that Newcastle tied down Taylor to long-term deal. England Youth Taylor has represented England at every level except the senior side and has also had the distinction of Captaining his country at every level too, just one of a handful in the history of the game to have done so. Tony Adams believes he has what it takes to become a full international and although he has a long way to go, he isn't the only one to acknowledge Taylor's qualities and potential either. England Under-20 head Coach Les Reed on Taylor: "Steven has qualities of Tony Adams and Martin Keown in his game, and really suits international football. He is 6' 3'', likes to bring the ball out of defence into midfield and reads the game so well. He shows great leadership qualities and could go all the way to the very highest level." Former England Under-21 coach David Platt on Taylor: "Steven has always played in age groups above his age, and when I saw him play in Dubai for the Under-20s - where he was one of the youngest players - he played very well and showed he could cope with the rigours of international football at that level. "Since he joined the Under-21s he has showed he can handle things both on and off the pitch, and is clearly benefiting from training with the first-team squad and players of the calibre of Alan Shearer at Newcastle." Taylor the man Only a teenager as of writing, it is perhaps the wrong choice of word to use for this particular section but in build, maturity and performances that is exactly what Taylor is - a man. He put many of his senior so-called professionals to shame during season 2004-05 and where as many a time heads would drop around him, the Geordie lad never dropped his once and belying his age, it was he who did his best to cajole and encourage those around him when up against it. Off the pitch he seems a level headed character and those on the forum and some of our regular contributors who actually went to school with Taylor, all have nothing but kind words to say about him. As a local lad he obviously gets many requests and he has affiliated himself with a few worthy causes for local schools, charities and other organisations. On the pitch he's always the last off the field and takes his time in signing autographs, posing for pictures and shaking hands with fans. He also comes from a working-class family and is fairly well grounded with a close circle of friends from his school days. As a fitness and healthy food fanatic he looks after himself as well and treats his body as a temple so you'd be hard pressed to find him stuffing his face with a kebab down the Bigg Market unlike a few others we could mention. All in all he seems to be one of those rare youngsters in football, an old head on young shoulders as they say and the future for Taylor is very much one of huge promise. Taylor the future? Whenever a young exciting talent emerges from the youth ranks it's easy to get carried away and even easier for such talent to fall by the wayside but with Taylor one senses this won't be the case. As a centre-half he has everything in his locker. The build, the strength and power to go with it, the bravery, the confidence and that all important presence. As a footballer he is comfortable on the ball, a forceful runner, is deceptively quick and his reading of the game for someone so young really is impressive. But his biggest asset is his temperament. He is made of the right stuff mentally and it is his character that will take him to the top with any luck because he has it all as a defender. One to watch for club and country. *This profile of Steven Taylor is copyright of Newcastle-Online.com and may not be reproduced, rewrote or copied in part in any way, shape or form without prior written consent*
*Does not include this season - to be added at the end of the campaign.
Notes: Please allow for any inaccuracies. If you do spot a mistake, then please report them and we will make the necessary changes. |
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NUFC Player Profiles - Steven Taylor
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Name: Steven Taylor
Steven Taylor - Strengths & Weaknesses