Taylor: Robert (Bob)

1985-1989 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Forward

Born: Easington, Co Durham: 03-02-1967

Debut v Millwall (h): 12-04-1986

5’10” 11st 2lb (1986)

Taylor was born in the North East on 3rd February 1967 in Littlethorpe Hospital, Easington, County Durham, a stone’s throw away from his village home of Horden. He gained an interest in football from a young age playing in the school team with the likes of fellow ex-pro Brian Honour, who played for over ten years at Hartlepool, and later took over the role of team captain when Brian left. Strangely during his younger years Bob was always a defender playing full back for his junior school. It wasn't until senior school that he moved into a forward role and started scoring goals. After leaving Dene House School, Peterlee, Taylor had a couple of unsuccessful trials at local football clubs, Hartlepool United and Newcastle United. He got his first big break when his current team, Northern League Division Two side Horden Colliery Welfare, appointed the former Sunderland full-back Dick Malone as their new Manager. After three months at the club, in December 1985, Malone recommended Taylor, his team’s top scorer, to Leeds United via their chief scout David Blakey. Malone, a member of Sunderland’s 1973 F.A. Cup-winning side, reckoned that local council-worker Taylor had the ability to score goals at League level. Taylor went for trials at Leeds in December 1985. He got off to a great start to his Leeds career as he made his debut in the junior team, playing against York City in the Northern Intermediate League with him finishing on the winning side with a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-4 win. He went on to score twelve goals for the team in the last fifteen games of that season and signed a two year contract once he turned eighteen. By the start of the 1985-86 season, Taylor had progressed into the reserve side at Leeds and became the season’s leading goalscorer at that level. Despite Leeds still not being free of relegation worries Tayloe was given his debut in April 1986 and the lean and mobile young striker made a good impression, displaying an intuative sense for the half-chance. Taylor became a regular in 1987, and played, at various times alongside Bobby Davison and then Ian Baird. He was not in the battering-ram mould of striker, but reliant on a good first touch. well-timed jumps and sharp relexes for his scoring opportunities. On a good day he was hard for ant defence to contain but there were other matches when he was anonymous and he appeared reluctant to make things happen in the midst of a mean defence. He played little part in the Leeds squad that reached the 1986-87 Division One Play-off Final, before losing to Charlton Athletic in a replay. He had happy memories from his three years at Elland Road, and during his last full season, he firmly established himself as a professional and was the club’s second top scorer, John Sheridan's tally was heavily boosted by his goals from the penalty spot, in his second season there. Unfortunately, what turned out to be his final season didn't go as well, with Leeds getting off to a dreadful start which saw them fall to the bottom of the League, followed by the sacking of Billy Bremner and with the advent of Howard Wilkinson, Taylor not starting another game. Taylor was eager to play first team football and learned that Joe Jordan, the Bristol City Manager, was interested in signing him. Howard Wilkinson was equally interested in signing one of his former Sheffield Wednesday players, Carl Shutt, and on 23rd March 1989 he was on his way to Bristol City and first team football for £200,000 and Shutt left for Elland Road for £50,000. Three weeks after his first game, he firmly entered the hearts of the Bristol City fans by scoring his first hat-trick in a 6-1 smashing of Huddersfield Town. By the end of his first season, he had scored eight goals in just twelve games. With Joe Jordan in charge and Taylor scoring the goals, the 1989-90 season went down in football history as an epic one for the city of Bristol. His success continued with his opening goal in the 2-0 win at Walsall on 4th November 1989 helping to send City to the top of the Third Division for the first time. In total Taylor scored a remarkable thirty-four goals that season, in just forty-seven games, twenty-seven of those coming in the League, which made him the top scorer in the Third Division, and second only to Mick Quinn of Newcastle in the whole of the four English Divisions. It saw City gain promotion to the Second Division, just two points behind the champions, neighbours Bristol Rovers. It was therefor only fitting that he went on to become City’s Player of the Year in 1990. His time at Bristol came to an end when Bobby Gould, then Manager of West Bromwich Albion, signed him on 31st January 1992 for £300,000. At Ashton Gate he scored fifty League goals from ninety-six starts and ten from the bench, together with five goals in nine starts and one as a substitute in the F.A. Cup, two goals in six starts and one from the bench in the League Cup and one goal in three starts in other competitions. Things did not start that well for him at West Brom and within six months of signing, Bobby Gould was sacked. The board of directors at West Brom then replaced Gould with Argentinian legend Ossie Ardiles. As a result of Ardiles’ appointment, West Brom secured promotion via the play-off final at Wembley in the 1993-94 season with a 3-0 win over Port Vale. In that season, it was when Taylor first got the nickname of 'Super' by scoring thirty-seven goals and building up a striking partnership with Andy Hunt, who had been signed from Newcastle. The partnership lasted for the next few seasons, and in Taylor's opinion, was the best of his career. He was once more the leading goalscorer in his league, now known as the Second Division, with thity League goals and was surpassed by only Guy Whittingham of Portsmouth, who scored forty-two in Division One, as top-scorer in the four Divisions. Although, the Taylor and Hunt partnership blossomed, West Brom didn't, and struggled for the next few seasons. As a result, both Hunt and Taylor left the First Division for the Premiership. In his first spell at the Hawthorns he scored ninety-six League goals in two hundred and eleven starts and twenty-seven games from the bench, together with three goals in six starts and two from the bench in the F.A. Cup, six goals in sixteen starts in the League Cup, scoring a further eight goals from sixteen starts and three as substitute in Play-offs and other competitions. He twice went out on loan to Premiership side Bolton Wanderers. He scored once in four League matches in one month spell in January, and when he returned for the last two months of the season he notched two further League goals from six starts and two from the bench. He had, however, scored against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and against Aston Villa at Villa Park in his loan periods. Taylor signed permanently on 2nd July 1998 for Bolton Wanderers, who had been relegated to Division One, for an undisclosed fee, and in 1998-99 they finished sixth, but after disposing of third placed Ipswich Town by the narrowest of margins, on away goals, in the two legged semi-final they went down 0-2 to fifth placed Watford in the Wembley Play-off Final on 31st May 1999. There was more heartbreak in 1999-2000, as once more they finished sixth but this time fell to third placed Ipswich Town in Extra-Time in the second of the Semi-finals at Portman Road. However by then Taylor had departed. He had scored eighteen more League goals from forty-seven starts and eighteen from the bench as well as two goals from four starts and one game as a substitute in the F.A. Cup and two goals in six starts and five from the bench in the League Cup and four goals in six starts in Play-offs and other games for the Trotters. Taylor had returned to his footballing home, the Hawthorns, on transfer deadline day in March 2000 for £90,000, on the same day as four other players. With West Brom poised to be relegated, Taylor's five goals in eight games kept the Baggies safe from relegation. Most of the credit for keeping the club in the division was shared between Taylor and the new manager, Gary Megson. However, in the next two seasons, West Brom, under Megson and with Taylor in the team, finished in the play-offs and then got promoted automatically, with Taylor scoring the goal against Crystal Palace that secured promotion to the Premier League. Unfortunately for Taylor, he only played four games for the Baggies in the Premier League. Taylor’s contract ran out at the end of that season, his testimonial year, and the club decided not to renew his contract. He played his last game for his beloved club on the last game of the season at home to his home town club Newcastle United. He left the club a true fans favourite, after scoring another seventeen goals and playing another eighty-six League games although forty one of those were as a substitute. There was also another goal from five League Cup starts and one game from the bench, and another from two substitute appearances in the F.A. Cup, while there were two games as a substitute against Bolton Wanderers in the Championship Play-off semi-finals in which he failed to score, in this his second spell at the Hawthorns and he was the eighth highest-ever scorer for the Baggies. Taylor's testimonial match was played at The Hawthorns on 13th May 2003, in front of 12,000 fans. Taylor then spent a season at Cheltenham Town, with former boss Bobby Gould. He made his Cheltenham debut on 23rd August 2003, coming on as a substitute in 3–3 draw away at Hull City. He marked his first start for Cheltenham with two goals in a 4–1 away win at Leyton Orient a week later. He scored seven League goals from twenty-eight games, including nine as a substitute and he scored once in two starts in the F.A. Cup competitions, but failed to score in one start in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. He then joined Conference side Tamworth on 1st September 2004, making his debut as a sixty-eighth minute substitute in a 0-2 home defeat by Farnborough three days later. After a further game from the bench he made his starting debut a fortnight later in a 1-2 defeat at Carlisle United and he opened his goal account when he netted in the final minute. On 19th April, 2005 Taylor signed for Tamworth for a further twelve months. During 2005-06, Taylor received a conviction for drink-driving; Tamworth gave him two weeks leave "to deal with personal matters". On 3rd May 2006 he was one of six players released by Tamworth. At Tamworth he scored eighteen League goals from sixty appearances, including nineteen as a substitute. He also started once in the F.A. Cup and once in the F.A. Trophy competition without scoring. Taylor linked up with Conference side, Kidderminster Harriers, for pre-season training and signed a non-contract deal with the club in September 2006. He made his debute as a sixty-seventh minute substitute in a 1-1 draw at Cambridge United on 12th September 2006. he then played four minutes in a 0-1 home defeat by Crawley on 30th September 2006 and his final game was for eight minutes in a 1-2 F.A. Cup defeat by Morecambe on 11th November 2006. On 19th January 2007 Taylor's contract was ended by Kidderminster Harriers' boss Mark Yates for financial reasons. He subsequently retired from professional football and has since set up his own promotions company, Super Bob Events.