Ian Taylor (footballer)

Football player infobox
playername= Ian Taylor


fullname = Ian Kenneth Taylor
height =
weight =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1968|6|4|df=y
cityofbirth = Birmingham
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
position = Midfielder
youthyears = 1991-1992
youthclubs = Moor Green
years = 1992-1994
1994
1994-2003
2003-2005
2005-2007
clubs = Port Vale
Sheffield Wednesday
Aston Villa
Derby County
Northampton Town
caps(goals) = 083 (28)
014 0(1)
234 (28)
081 (14)
066 0(8)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears =
managerclubs =

Ian Taylor (born 4 June 1968 in Birmingham) is an English former footballer, best known for his time at Aston Villa.

He became Brian Little's first signing as manager in December 1994, following spells with non-league Moor Green, and league sides Port Vale and Sheffield Wednesday. The transfer from Sheffield Wednesday saw forward Guy Whittingham move in the opposite direction.

He played, and scored, in the Aston Villa side that won the 1996 Coca-Cola cup final 3-0 against Leeds, whilst also netting important goals in Villa's 1997/1998 UEFA cup run, when they would eventually be knocked out to Atlético Madrid on away goals.

A lifelong supporter of Aston Villa, he used to stand on the famous Holte End as a child. It is perhaps for this reason, combined with his utterly committed displays and knack of scoring crucial goals, that he quickly became a fans' favourite.

When Villa played Derby County in a pre-season friendly in 2004, Taylor scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory for Derby and, once they realised who had scored, the cheering from the Villa fans was as loud as that from the Derby fans. Still held in very high esteem by the majority of Aston Villa fans, he has perhaps gained cult status for life when, in October 2005, instead of sitting with the directors and VIPs for the second city derby against Birmingham City at St Andrews, he was amongst the travelling Aston Villa contingent; Taylor recently did the same thing in Villa's game against Birmingham City on 11th November 2007.

After leaving Aston Villa in the summer of 2003, he had spells with Championship side Derby County, where he was made captain, and League One outfit Northampton Town.

The club and Taylor announced on the 23 April 2007 that the game at home to Huddersfield Town FC would be the last of his career, before retiring as a professional player. [ [http://www.ntfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10425~1015059,00.html] ] It is known that an army of Aston Villa fans attended this match.

At Aston Villa's away match against Manchester City the day after Taylor's final game, the travelling Villa fans sung "There's only one Ian Taylor".

Taylor is now an occasional football pundit for AVTV and can regularly be seen at Aston Villa games. During the 2007-08 season, he has been given a regular column as the final feature in Aston Villa's match programme, titled 'Tayl End'.

It was announced on August 6th that Ian would be the new match day summariser covering matches involving Derby County for BBC Radio Derby during the 2008/09 season.

References

External links

* [http://www.football.co.uk/northampton/players/ian_taylor_1644.shtml Ian Taylor Northampton Town FC player profile]
*soccerbase|7821|Ian Taylor