Steven Taylor

Club

_Retired Soccer

Position

Defender

Nationality

England

Date of birth

1986-01-23

Birthplace

London, England

Height

1.88

Weight

79.37

Signing / transfer fee

Free

Steven Vincent Taylor (born 23 January 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is the current head coach of Gulf United, an academy based in the United Arab Emirates.

Taylor was born in Greenwich, London to a family from Newcastle upon Tyne and moved back to the North East weeks later. He was raised in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside and attended Valley Gardens Middle School with future teammate Peter Ramage.

Taylor, then a striker, joined the Newcastle United youth academy after being scouted at Cramlington Juniors, where he played alongside Peter Ramage, and Wallsend Boys Club. At age thirteen, he was switched to defence. He played a key part in helping the U-17's win the old Premier Academy League U-17 title for the 2001–02 season. After finishing his GCSEs at Monkseaton High School, Taylor capped a fine season by joining the academy on a first-year scholarship and signed professional terms when he turned seventeen. The following season, he was sent on a month-long loan to Wycombe Wanderers where he played under his childhood hero Tony Adams and made his league debut in the old Second Division against Notts County in December 2003.

Upon returning to Newcastle in the latter half of the season, the teenager was mostly shifting back and forth between the first team and reserves. On 25 March 2004 in the UEFA Cup Fourth Round second leg tie against Mallorca, he came on as a substitute for Andy O'Brien to make his first team debut and held the record as the Magpies' youngest debutant in European competition in the 2000s until it was broken by Andy Carroll in November 2006. Three days later, he made his Premier League debut against Bolton Wanderers and was in the starting eleven as in a less familiar right back role. His debut ended disappointingly as he was out-muscled by Henrik Pedersen in the build up that led to Bolton's match-winning goal. This would be his only other appearance for the rest of the season, although he did make the bench on several occasions.

On 1 August 2016, Taylor signed for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers. On 6 August, Taylor turned out for their reserve side against LA Galaxy II, but scored an own goal and was later subbed off at half-time, in what would be an eventual 4–3 win for T2.

In November 2001, Taylor captained the England Under-16 team at the Walkers International Tournament and was voted the player of the tournament. The following summer, he captained the U-17's t