Maik Taylor

Maik Stefan Taylor (born 4 September 1971) is a former Northern Ireland international football goalkeeper and, since July 2022, goalkeeping coach at Birmingham City.

At club level, Taylor played non-League football for Petersfield Town, Basingstoke Town and Farnborough Town before moving into the Football League with Barnet. He went on to play for Southampton, Fulham, Birmingham City, where he spent eight years before his release at the end of the 2010–11 season, Leeds United and Millwall. In international football, he played for Northern Ireland, qualifying for that country through his British passport which at that time, as he was born abroad, entitled him to play for any of the Home Nations.

Taylor took up goalkeeper coaching, initially with the Northern Ireland setup. He was briefly goalkeeping coach at Bradford City in 2019, and then spent three years in that role with Walsall before moving on to Birmingham City in July 2022.

Early life

Taylor was born in Hildesheim, West Germany, to a German mother and an English father who was serving as a staff sergeant in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) regiment of the British Army.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Indy>Template:Cite news</ref> Taylor began his football career at ASC Nienburg of Nienburg, Lower Saxony, in Germany before moving to England as a schoolboy. He later followed in his father's footsteps by joining the REME based at Arborfield in Berkshire, where he attended Princess Marina College.<ref name=NIFG/>

He later moved to Bordon in Hampshire where he played football for his regiment and for the Army and Combined Services representative sides.<ref name = "ITN586">Template:Cite book</ref> During this period he also played for Petersfield Town, Basingstoke Town and Farnborough Town, with whom he won the Southern League Premier Division title in 1993–94.<ref name=NIFG>Template:Cite web</ref>

Club career

In June 1995, Taylor joined Barnet of the Football League Third Division for a fee of £700.<ref name=NIFG/> Eighteen months later he was signed by Southampton of the Premier League for a fee of £500,000.<ref name=NIFG/>

Southampton

Taylor had become a "Saints" fan as a schoolboy so when Graeme Souness brought him to The Dell in January 1997, no-one was more delighted than Taylor himself.<ref name = "ITN586"/> Taylor immediately went into the first-team, replacing Dave Beasant, and made his debut on 11 January in a 1–0 victory at Middlesbrough. During his first season at Southampton, the team struggled near the foot of the table, avoiding relegation by one point, having been in last place with five matches to play.<ref name="ITN250">Holley & Chalk, In That Number. p. 250.</ref>

Souness left the club in the summer of 1997, being replaced by Dave Jones who brought in several new players, including goalkeeper Paul Jones from his previous club, Stockport County. Taylor spent the rest of his time at Southampton on the bench and was sold to Fulham in November 1997.<ref name = "ITN586"/>

Fulham

Taylor was bought by Fulham in 1997 from Southampton at a cost of £800,000.<ref name = "ITN586"/> Fulham's manager Kevin Keegan rated him as the "best taker of a cross I've ever seen"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and he proved to be a good signing for the Cottagers, helping them win the Second Division title in 1999. The First Division championship followed in 2001 and thus promotion to the Premier League.

Whilst at Craven Cottage, Taylor earned his first international cap for Northern Ireland in a 3–0 defeat by Germany on 27 March 1999. He went on to make over 80 appearances for his adopted country.<ref name=NIFG/>

He was the first-choice goalkeeper at Craven Cottage until Fulham reached the Premier League, when manager Jean Tigana signed Edwin van der Sar, thus relegating Taylor to the bench. Taylor made only one Premier League appearance in 2001–02, but an injury to Van der Sar sustained at Newcastle United on 21 December 2002<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ruled him out for several months, allowing Taylor to return to the side, and he retained his place for the remainder of the season.<ref name=sb0203/>

Birmingham City

Taylor signed for Birmingham City in August 2003, initially on a year-long loan deal with the possibility of a permanent contract.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Manager Steve Bruce made the contract permanent in March 2004 for a £1.5 million fee.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Taylor continued his impressive form and was rewarded by being nominated as the goalkeeper for the Premiership team of the 2003–04 season.<ref name=BCFCprofile>Template:Cite web </ref>

Taylor was replaced as Birmingham's first choice goalkeeper in February 2007 by Colin Doyle, but regained his place after the first three matches of the 2007–08 Premier League season. He was again replaced as the first choice keeper in the 2009–10 Premier League season by loan signing Joe Hart, playing only the two fixtures against Hart's parent club, Manchester City. He spent the rest of the season on the bench.

In May 2010, Taylor signed a new one-year deal with Birmingham just after they had signed new keeper Ben Foster from Manchester United. He played only four matches in 2010–11, all in cup competitions, and was on the bench as Birmingham won the 2011 Football League Cup Final. He was not offered a new contract at the end of the season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Final playing years

After training with the club for two weeks in November 2011, and saving a penalty in a friendly against a Chelsea XI, Taylor signed a short-term contract, until January 2012, with Championship club Leeds United.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Taylor took his place on the bench behind loan goalkeeper Alex McCarthy two days later against Barnsley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His contract was extended until the end of the season, to act as backup for Andy Lonergan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

But in March, having made no appearances for Leeds and with new manager Neil Warnock preferring not to name a goalkeeper among the substitutes, Taylor agreed to move to fellow Championship club Millwall on loan for the remainder of the season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After a string of clean sheets, Taylor was nominated for the Championship player of the month award for April. After his six-month deal came to an end, Taylor was told he would be released by Leeds at the expiry of his contract.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In May 2012, Taylor agreed a 12-month contract with Millwall, staying with them for one season before retiring.

International career

Taylor was born in Germany to an English father and a German mother. As a British citizen who was born abroad, FIFA eligibility rules at the time of Taylor's first international selection entitled him to represent any of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom at international level. He opted for Northern Ireland, despite having no familial connection to that country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Taylor made his debut for the Northern Ireland U21 team in April 1998 at the age of 27, as an over-age player in a 2-1 friendly victory over Switzerland.<ref name=NIFG/> His senior debut was against Germany in 1999: Northern Ireland lost 3–0.<ref name=NIFG/> In an August 2005 friendly Taylor saved an injury time penalty from Malta's George Mallia to keep the score at 1–1.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He became a regular in the Northern Ireland national team, and played 88 matches, including the famous 1–0 victory over England in September 2005.

Taylor was replaced by Lee Camp as first choice goalkeeper, but was recalled to the Northern Ireland squad in August 2011 despite not being registered with a club since leaving Birmingham City.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He made his 88th appearance for Northern Ireland on 11 October 2011, captaining his country in a 3–0 defeat away to Italy in a Euro 2012 qualifier.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While working as the national goalkeeping coach, the 43-year-old Taylor made an emergency return to the squad in June 2015 as a back-up goalkeeper, following an injury to Roy Carroll the day before a Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Coaching career

In July 2013, TaylorTemplate:Sndwho had studied UEFA B Licence and UEFA A Licence, Part 1Template:Sndwas hired as goalkeeping coach for the Northern Ireland national team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 8 March 2019, he agreed a short-term deal to become the goalkeeping coach at Bradford City until the end of the 2018–19 season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2019 he left Bradford to take up a similar role at Walsall,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in July 2022, returned to Birmingham City as part of newly appointed head coach John Eustace's backroom staff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Barnet	1995–96<ref name=Hugman>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=sb9697>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Third Division	45	0	2	0	2	0	2Template:Efn	0	51	0
	1996–97<ref name=Hugman/><ref name=sb9697/>	Third Division	25	0	4	0	4	0	—		33	0
	Total		70	0	6	0	6	0	2	0	84	0
Southampton	1996–97<ref name=sb9697/>	Premier League	18	0	—		—		—		18	0
	1997–98<ref name=sb9798>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	0	0	—		0	0	—		0	0
	Total		18	0	—		—		—		18	0
Fulham	1997–98<ref name=sb9798/>	Second Division	28	0	2	0	—		3Template:Efn	0	33	0
	1998–99<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Second Division	46	0	7	0	5	0	0	0	58	0
	1999–2000<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	First Division	46	0	4	0	7	0	—		57	0
	2000–01<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	First Division	44	0	1	0	5	0	—		50	0
	2001–02<ref>Template:Soccerbase season Template:Cite web</ref>	Premier League	1	0	2	0	3	0	—		6	0
	2002–03<ref name=sb0203>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	19	0	4	0	2	0	3Template:Efn	0	28	0
	Total		184	0	20	0	22	0	6	0	232	0
Birmingham City	2003–04<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	34	0	4	0	1	0	—		39	0
	2004–05<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	38	0	2	0	2	0	—		42	0
	2005–06<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	34	0	6	0	1	0	—		41	0
	2006–07<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Championship	27	0	3	0	1	0	—		31	0
	2007–08<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	34	0	1	0	0	0	—		35	0
	2008–09<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Championship	45	0	1	0	0	0	—		46	0
	2009–10<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	2	0	0	0	2	0	—		4	0
	2010–11<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Premier League	0	0	1	0	3	0	—		4	0
	Total		214	0	18	0	10	0	—		242	0
Leeds United	2011–12<ref name=stats1112>Template:Cite news Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Championship	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
Millwall (loan)	2011–12<ref name=stats1112/>	Championship	10	0	—		—		—		10	0
Millwall	2012–13<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref>	Championship	6	0	0	0	1	0	—		7	0
	Total		16	0	0	0	1	0	—		17	0
Career total			502	0	44	0	39	0	8	0	613	0

Honours

Farnborough Town<ref name=NIFG/>

• Southern League Premier Division: 1993–94

Fulham<ref name=NIFG/>

• Football League Second Division: 1998–99
• Football League First Division: 2000–01
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Birmingham City<ref name=NIFG/>

• Football League Championship runner-up: 2006–07, 2008–09
• Football League Cup: 2010–11<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Individual

• 1998–99 Football League Second Division PFA Team of the Year<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2000–01 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year<ref name=NIFG/>

External links

• Template:Webarchive
• Template:Premier League player