Gareth Taylor

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Gareth Taylor Warming Up Before A Game

Gareth Taylor (born Weston-super-Mare, 25 February 1973) is an experienced football player with Tranmere Rovers. He finished the 2005-06 season at Crewe Alexandra on loan from Nottingham Forest where his contract expired at the end of the season. He is 6 ft 2" and weighs 13 stone 7 lbs and plays at centre-forward, however he has been used as a makeshift centre-back.

Taylor started his career with Southampton F.C., but didn't make any first team appearances and was released. Bristol Rovers then signed him, and he made his league debut as a centre-back in a 6-1 defeat at Cambridge in February 1992. He did not play again until the first match of the 1994-95 campaign, by which time manager John Ward had converted him into a striker. His height meant he was a good target man and was exceptional in the air, scoring 12 goals (most of them headers) in his first full season alongside Marcus Stewart and Paul Miller in attack. His brace against Brentford on the final day ensured a Division 2 play-off spot and after a tense away goals victory over Crewe in the semi-final, Rovers made it to Wembley. Unfortunately, the Gas lost 2-1 to Huddersfield and Taylor somehow missed an open goal from a yard out.

After four goals in seven games at the start of the following season, he was surprisingly snapped up by Crystal Palace for an initial £750,000 rising to an eventual £1.25 million, when most Rovers fans expected Stewart to be sold instead. He failed to make an impact at the London outfit and only managed 20 appearances and 2 goals. He was soon released and was signed by Sheffield United, where he made 50+ appearances and scored 24 goals.

Manchester City then bought him for £400,000. He made around 40 appearances but only managed 9 goals. This led to him being loaned out to various clubs, including Port Vale, Q.P.R and Burnley (who eventually signed him on a free transfer). His time at Burnley was arguably the best time in his football career. He played just under 100 games and scored just under 30 goals, which made him become a favourite with the fans.

This persuaded Paul Hart to buy him for Nottingham Forest for £500,000. At the beginning of the 2003-04 season,following his recovery from a serious eye injury sustained while still at Burnley,he became a regular in the side when David Johnson broke his leg. Forest's fortunes took a downturn largely caused by a mass exodus of players during the previous summer. However when Paul Hart was replaced by Joe Kinnear,Gareth Taylor-"Supergaz", played a big part in the recovery with some very important goals. His first goal for Forest ironically came against his former club Burnley, at Turf Moor where Nottingham Forest romped The Clarets 3-0.

In the unfortunate 04-05 season which resulted in relegation, he was made captain by Gary Megson and was highest scorer with 11 goals.

Taylor fell foul of the Forest faithful in the 2005/6 season and was stripped of the captaincy.

Shortly into the 2005-06 season, following a string of disappointing performances and a rapidly deteriorating relationship with the crowd, Taylor was stripped of the captaincy. With young stiker Nathan Tyson being signed to replace him, Taylor fell out of favour and was afforded few first-team opportunities thereafter. This eventually led to him being loaned out to Crewe Alexandra, where he enjoyed some success but was unable to prevent them getting relegated.

Gareth Taylor's contract at Nottingham Forest expired in the summer of 2006; the club decided against renewing it and he was promptly released.

At the end of June 2006, Taylor joined Tranmere Rovers.

He is a former Wales international. Despite being born in England, he qualified for the national side through his father who was born in Wales and scored his only international goal in a 4-0 friendly drubbing of Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in 2004.

[edit] Exterior links

Gareth Taylor career stats at Soccerbase