Taylor, Stephen

Early career

Taylor was born in London to the family of George , and a few weeks after his birth, his parents returned to the Northeast of England with him. There, on North Tyneside, Stephen went to high school with his future friend at the Newcastle Academy, Peter Ramage. He played a key role in the U-17 team during the 2001/02 season. After graduation, 17-year-old Taylor signed his first professional contract. The following season, from December 11, 2003 to January 11, 2004, he was sent monthly to the club of the third English division of Wycombe Wanderers , where he debuted against Notts County on December 13. He played for the "drakes" 6 games under the direction of Tony Adams .

Newcastle United

After returning to Newcastle in the latter half of the season, the teenager mostly balanced between the first and reserve teams. March 25, 2004 in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup in the match against Mallorca , Taylor came on as a substitute for Andy O'Brien. Stephen's debut was a record. He was the youngest debutant of "Newcastle" in European competition. This achievement was beaten only in November 2006 by young Andy Carol. Three days later, Taylor made his debut in the Premier League against Bolton Wanderers , finding himself in the starting lineup and in the less familiar role of a right-back. His debut was unsuccessful. In one of the game episodes, he lost the power struggle to his opponent Henrik Pedersen, which led to Bolton's winning goal.

Start of the 2004/05 season Taylor missed due to injury. However, he recovered and in November took the place of the right-back, replacing the Irish Steven Carr, who could not play due to injury. Tails was able to participate in 22 games for the club, and he started 17 of them in the starting lineup. This season, the young defender was remembered for the fact that on April 2 in the match against Aston Villa he saved forty empty gates, having beaten off the ball with his hand after hitting Darius Vassell . The arbitrator immediately showed him the red card for an intentional hand game. But this incident was almost forgotten after a subsequent fight between teammates Lee Boyer and Kiron Dyer , which ended with the removal of both. As a result, Newcastle finished the match with eight players on the field. Taylor suffered several seasons due to various injuries. December 27, "Newcastle" came to visit "Liverpool". The match ended in victory for the hosts 2-0, and Steve was able to play in it only 28 minutes. After the fight with Fernando Morientes for the ball of the horse, he landed badly and aggravated the shoulder damage he received in November during his performance for the youth team ^[2] . It took surgery, which resulted in the 19-year-old boy having to miss the rest of the 2005/06 season. He returned to the field Taylor only May 11, coming on as a substitute in the farewell match of Alan Shearer .

Breakthrough

The 2006/07 season was a breakthrough season for Taylor. On November 23, 2006, as part of the UEFA Cup, Newcastle met with the Spanish Celta. It was in this match that Stephen scored his first goal for an adult team ^[3] . The match came to an end with the score 1: 1. 4 minutes before the end of the main time of the game from the corner flag, the presentation was done by Albert Luka. And closed this canopy assists and victorious blow of the head, Stephen Taylor. Celebrating a goal scored, he ran from one end of the field to the other. And teammates called him for it " Forrest Gump ." And on December 9, 2006, he scored his first goal in the Premier League in the match against Blackburn Rovers , which ended with a victory with a score of 3: 1. Tails began to play more regularly, leaving 12 times in the starting lineup for the defense of Newcastle. However, with the new manager, Sam Allardyce, Taylor increasingly ceased to be among the first eleven players. And there were even fears that the defender would leave St. James Park after he rejected a proposal for a new five-year contract with the club in September. But in November 2007, the Association of Football Journalists of the North-East of England voted for him as the best young player of the year. And when Kevin Keegan came to the place of Allardyce, he returned to his place on the field and signed a new three-year contract at the end of the season.

Reach and season 2009/10

After several months of playing in the starting lineup, Taylor gets another injury, and gives up his place on the field to Sebastian Bassong , who played well in defense with Fabrizio Kolochchini . Steven managed to prove himself well in some important matches. For example, the ball he scored against Everton, thanks to which Newcastle was able to snatch a draw. After recovering from injury, Taylor mainly entered the game at the right-back position. May 24, 2009, he spent the 150th match for the club. It was the last game in the championship, which ended in defeat by Aston Villa with a score of 0: 1. Despite the fact that Taylor had his most productive season during the performances for the club (he managed to score 4 goals in the Premier League matches), this loss meant flying “forty” from the Premier League. In addition, due to injury, he was unable to take part in the games for the youth team at the European Championships, which took place in June. In the course of the fans' vote on the website /www.journallive.co.uk for the best player of the season, Taylor took second place, losing to Sebastian Bassong ^[4] . With the downgrade in the classroom of Newcastle, a question arose regarding the future of Taylor. Rumors began to circulate in the newspapers about his possible return to the Premier League with Chelsea as a replacement for John Terry, to whom Manchester City began to show great interest. There were also rumors about Taylor’s possible departure to Everton. The player himself did not take any action to move to another club until the transfer window was closed. And he announced his decision to stay in the team and help Newcastle return to the Premier League, even if it means that he will have to debut his dreams for the first national team in the near future. Taylor appeared on the field in all games of the beginning of the season. On September 19, he scored his first goal in the championship, in a match against Plymouth, which ended with the score 3: 1. September 22 in the League Cup match against Peterborough, Taylor led the team to the field as captain. In October, due to a hamstring injury from a workout, Stephen had to miss four games. But he returned to service in the first November game against Peterborough. Taylor and Kolochchini made a great pair in the center of defense of Newcastle. With them, the "magpies" gave a long lasting win-win series of home games. However, a knee injury in a January match against West Brom destroyed their tandem. The coaching staff hoped that Stephen would be back in operation towards the end of March, and would help his team in the remaining matches. But this was not to be. On March 21, Taylor was taken to Queen Victoria Hospital, where the player was diagnosed with a broken jaw. The press reported that on Sunday evening at the training base striker Andy Carroll, who is famous for his stormy temper, entered into a skirmish with his own teammate, which ended in a fight and hospitalization of Taylor. Representatives of the club declined to comment on the incident. But, despite the fact that Taylor missed the rest of the season, Newcastle finished it at the top of the standings, never losing a single home game, and designed his return to the Premier League.

2010/11 season

On July 17, Newcastle held a preseason game against Carlisle United . In this match, Taylor first appeared on the field in January. He came off the bench in the second half and received a new injury. Dislocation of the shoulder required surgical intervention. It would take about three to four months to recover from the operation. It was expected that the football player will be back in operation by November. On August 25, Newcastle officially announced that central defender Stephen Taylor was put on a transfer. The current contract of the 24-year-old Englishman with the "magpies" expires at the end of this season. Agent football asked the management of 60 thousand pounds a week. While the club was willing to pay only 40 thousand. The parties could not agree on a new deal, so the club decided to quickly sell a defender. Hearing this news, Taylor officially declared that he was ready to continue negotiations and find a compromise solution ^[5] . After leaving the infirmary team, Taylor spent several matches on the bench. The disqualification of Newcastle defenders accelerated his return to the pitch, to which he first went out after an injury immediately in the starting lineup on November 28 in a home game against Chelsea. The game ended with a score of 1: 1. Stephen regained a firm place in the base and on December 27, 2010 he signed a new contract with Newcastle for 5.5 years ^[6] . On January 5, 2011, in a home game against West Ham, which ended in a 5-0 defeat, the defender was able to play only the first half, and was replaced due to another injury. This time the recovery did not take so much time. February 26 Taylor came on as a substitute in the match against Bolton. But the loss of the optimal game form affected. Almost until the end of the season, Stephen was constantly in the application for the match, but appeared on the field sporadically. Only in May, he again firmly took place in the starting lineup and even scored goals in the last three matches of the season.

2011/12 season

From the beginning of the season in all Premier League matches, the head coach of the forty Alan Purdew used the same bundle in the center of defense - Stephen Taylor and Fabricio Kolochchini. Thanks to this, Newcastle's defensive line was considered the best in the championship. But on December 3, 2011, despite the fact that Stephen played all 90 minutes of the game against Chelsea, he received another injury. Diagnosis - Achilles damage. An in-depth medical examination showed that the only way to solve the problem was the intervention of the surgeon. The next day, an operation was scheduled. Taylor managed to play 14 matches. More this season, he did not go on the field. Recovery took a long 7 months.

2012/13 season

On July 10, Newcastle head coach Alan Purdew reported that central defender Stephen Taylor had completely healed his injury, resumed training and would have pre-season training without any restrictions.

In the national team

In November 2001, Taylor was appointed captain of the England national team under the age of 16. And at the international competition, in which young footballers from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and England participated, he was named the best player of the tournament ^[7] . The following summer, he was already captain of the national team under the age of 17, and won the National Tournament with her, thereby winning his first international title. In March 2003, England to 17 qualified for the European Championship. The team got into one group together with teams of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Scotland. And in the match against Slovakia, held in Bolton, the British won 5-0, and Taylor scored his first two goals for the national team. He also took part in the 2003 World Youth Championship for players under the age of 20 years, along with future partners in the U-21 team James Milner , Andrew Taylor and Martin Crani . In the tournament, held in Dubai, he took part in all group matches, despite the fact that he was one of the youngest team members. On February 17, 2004, Taylor makes his debut for the England U-21 team in a match against the Netherlands, which ended in a victory for the English with a score of 3: 2. In June 2005, Taylor stands for the England U-20 team at the International Tournament in Toulon. He scored twice in the penalty shootout and helps the team finish third in the competition ^[8] . Stephen scored the first goal for the U-21 national team on September 6 at the gates of Germany, and then on October 11 he added two more goals to the Polish national team. On May 25, 2007, Stephen made his debut as a reserve player for the second England team in a match against Albania. He finished this season for the national team to 21 years, which participated in the European Championship, held in the Netherlands. Having missed the first match because of the red card in the playoff games against Germany, Stephen played the other two games of the group and the semi-final against the hosts of the tournament. The British were 1-0, but in the very end of normal time Stephen Taylor suffered an ankle injury in his goalkeeper's area. For more than a minute he was lying on the grass, but the referee did not stop the game, and the Dutch managed to level the score. The match went into extra time. Taylor had to finish the encounter with the injury, since all the replacements had already been used. And another field because of injury left the English defender Nedum Onuoha left, leaving the partners with ten men. As a result, the match ended in a series of penalty shootouts, where the Dutch team won with a score of 13:12 ^[9] . On August 22, 2007, Taylor was called up to the first England team for a friendly game with Germany, which was held at Wembley ^[10] . But on the field, he never appeared, remaining on the bench. In early September 2007, Taylor was appointed captain of the England national team under the age of 21 ^[11] , and led her in all qualifying matches of the 2009 European Championship. However, the old injury recurred forced the captain to miss the final part of the tournament and end his career in the national team under the age of 21. ^[12] .

He is a universal central defender, who sometimes plays the position of the right-back, or, in rare cases, the position of the left-back.

• Player Profile (English) on Transfermarkt
• Profile on the site Soccerway (eng.)
• Player profile (eng.) On soccerbase.com
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