If goalkeepers are supposed to be football’s strangest breed, what does that make their understudies? Not the ones who warm the bench in their youth before graduating to the number one shirt, but those perennially waiting in the wings. Those who make it to their late twenties playing only one or two senior games per season behind untouchable multi-million-pound first choices, and yet are still only too happy to pick up their wage packet for turning up to training. Steve Harper may have accidentally landed on his feet at a club too cash-strapped to replace Shay Given, but Stuart Taylor has become the latest to confirm his place in the pantheon of the unambitious, re-signing with Manchester City just nine days after being released by them.
Taylor spent 7 years at Arsenal
Taylor’s is a tale of wasted talent. Seven years at Arsenal, the club of his youth career, yielded just eighteen Premier League appearances. Most of them were as second-choice, some of them were as third, but none of them were as number one. Taylor was highly rated by Arsenal – Bob Wilson said Taylor was the best natural goalkeeper at the club at a time when Jens Lehmann was first-choice, and he was kept on in favour of Alex Manninger and Richard Wright – but the chances for a young ‘keeper behind experienced internationals like David Seaman and Lehmann himself were always going to be limited.
Stuart Taylor’s crime at Arsenal was nothing greater than not being good enough, but in 2005 he had a choice. After his Arsenal contract expired, he could have joined a side seeking a number one, played regular football and taken advantage of his talent. Instead, he joined Aston Villa, high-profile club with Thomas Sørensen securely installed as first-choice. Four years and nine league appearances later, Taylor was 28 and had missed the boat.
Last summer the wealthiest club in the world offered him a cushy number, and with Joe Hart and Shay Given at the club, Taylor is expected to keep goal for Manchester City’s kids and recovering injury-victims in the reserves. In a way, you can’t blame him. It’s easy money and he doesn’t even have to put himself in the firing line. But at a time when English goalkeeping talent is scarce, it’s a shame that the likes of Taylor don’t feel the need to challenge themselves. If the Manchester City player’s career is anything to go by, Ben Foster may have left his move to Birmingham City too late.
Don't expect to see this often next season
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