John Taylor (footballer born 1964)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 24 October 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Norwich, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
|
Current team
|
Walsham-le-Willows (assistant manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1982 | Colchester United | 0 | (0) |
| 1982–1988 | Sudbury Town | ||
| 1988–1992 | Cambridge United | 160 | (46) |
| 1992–1994 | Bristol Rovers | 95 | (44) |
| 1994–1995 | Bradford City | 36 | (11) |
| 1995–1997 | Luton Town | 37 | (3) |
| 1996 | → Lincoln City (loan) | 5 | (2) |
| 1996 | → Colchester United (loan) | 8 | (5) |
| 1997–2004 | Cambridge United | 172 | (40) |
| 2004 | Northampton Town | 8 | (1) |
| 2004–2005 | Dagenham & Redbridge | 5 | (1) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2001–2004 | Cambridge United | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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John Taylor (born 24 October 1964) is an English former professional footballer who is currently assistant manager of Walsham-le-Willows. As a player, striker Taylor made over 500 league appearances, scoring 153 goals, the majority of which were for Cambridge United.
Taylor started his career as a trainee with Colchester United in 1982 but he managed just one substitute appearance for the Essex club, in a League Cup tie. Dropping out of the league, Taylor took a job as a shipping clerk and played part-time for Sudbury Town F.C. where he was spotted by Cambridge United manager Chris Turner who paid Sudbury £1,000 for his services in the Summer of 1988.
Taylor had joined a young team hungry for success and after a season on the fringes of the side, he quickly built up a partnership with Dion Dublin to forge arguably the clubs most successful ever striking duo. From 1989 to 1992 Cambridge United embarked on an amazing run of success that culminated in successive promotions from Division 4 to Division 2. Much of this was down to manager John Beck and his controversial long ball methods. Beck had replaced Chris Turner as manager in January 1990 and had taken the club on a rollercoaster ride. Promotion from Division 4 was achieved via a play-off final win at Wembley over Chesterfield whilst the Division 3 Championship was sewn up a year later. Coupled with this were 2 successive FA Cup Quarter-final appearances with The U's being knocked out by Crystal Palace and Arsenal after some famous giant killing along the way.
Cambridge United were top of the (old) Division Two in November 1991 and looking good for promotion up to what would be the first Premiership season in 1992/93. Beck's long ball tactics had become unpopular with the players however, including Taylor. Following 46 goals in total for the club he was surprisingly off-loaded to Bristol Rovers in March 1992. Rovers striker Devon White made the opposite move and United also parted with £90,000 to complete the transfer. It remains one of the most unpopular moves in the history of the club. United eventually made the play-offs but were beaten 6–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals by Leicester City and fans still wonder what might have happened had Taylor stayed – White played just once in the final run-in, failing to score.
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