Robert Taylor (footballer)

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For other persons named Robert Taylor, see Robert Taylor (disambiguation).
Robert Taylor
Personal information
Full name Robert Anthony Taylor
Date of birth April 30, 1971 (1971-04-30) (age 37)
Place of birth    Norwich, England
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Diss Town (manager)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1990-1991
1991
1991
1991-1994
1994-1998
1998-1999
1999-2000
2000-2002
2001
2001-2002
2002
2002-2003
2003		 Norwich City
→ Leyton Orient (loan)
Birmingham City
Leyton Orient
Brentford
Gillingham
Manchester City
Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Queens Park Rangers (loan)
→ Gillingham (loan)
→ Grimsby Town (loan)
Grimsby Town
Scunthorpe United		 000 (0)
003 (1)
000 (0)
073 (20)
180 (56)
061 (33)
012 (5)
009 (0)
003 (0)
011 (0)
004 (1)
001 (0)
008 (0)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 10 February 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Robert Anthony Taylor (born 30 April 1971 in Norwich) is an English retired association football player turned manager. He was appointed as manager of Diss Town of the Eastern Counties Football League on April 25, 2008.

[edit] Playing career

Taylor was signed by his home town club Norwich City after being spotted playing for non-league Watton United but although he was a high-scoring regular for the reserves, he never managed to break into the Canaries' first team. A move to Birmingham City also failed to provide any first-team football, but he finally made the grade with Leyton Orient. He had first played at Brisbane Road on loan from Norwich and the London club signed him permanently after he left Birmingham. A successful spell at Orient led to a move to Brentford.

While at Brentford Taylor formed prolific strike partnerships with Nicky Forster, Marcus Bent and Carl Asaba and became a keenly-sought transfer target. After being linked with a host of clubs he finally signed with Gillingham in 1998. The Kent club paid a club record fee to secure his services but he initially failed to perform, with the fans complaining that he was overweight, not match fit, and overpriced. When he did hit form, however, he became one of the Gillingham fans' greatest ever heroes, his exploits including scoring five goals in a match away at Burnley, the first time a player had ever hit five away from home for the Gills and the first time any player had achieved the feat in Division Two. He also scored a goal in the 1999 play-off final at Wembley Stadium against Manchester City. Six months later, after an impressive run of 18 goals in just 19 games, it was City who swooped to sign Taylor for £1.5 million.

After City's promotion to the Premiership in 2000 Taylor was deemed to be excess to requirements and allowed to move on to Wolverhampton Wanderers, again for a fee in excess of £1 million. His time at Molineux was blighted by injuries, however, and he soon fell out of favour and was loaned out no less than three times, including a surprise return to Gillingham where he appeared to be a shadow of his former self and failed to score a single goal in eleven appearances. Wolves eventually terminated his contract in 2002 and he had short spells with Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe United over the next year. He then spent time on trial with Cheltenham Town and Chester City before retiring from the professional game due to injuries in 2003.

[edit] Managerial career

Taylor returned to East Anglia to manage the club where he had started his career, Watton United. He led them to the championship of the Anglian Combination but then moved on to become assistant manager at King's Lynn, eventually becoming manager in 2004. His spell in charge was to last only seven games, however. After leaving Lynn, he signed as a player with Gorleston and later played for Holt of the Anglian Combination before being appointed as the new manager of Dereham Town in December 2004. In 2008 he moved to Diss Town.

[edit] Sources