I get up at 4am or 5am to watch United matches – but still get to training at 9
How Taylor is Toon-ing in Down Under
STEVEN Taylor’s Wellington Phoenix contract comes with an unusual verbal agreement.
Taylor – the franchise player for the Phoenix and feeling, in his own words, as good as he has ever felt – did not ask for it.
The 33-year-old says manager Mark Rudan has made an allowance so he can keep a connection with the club where he progressed from boy to man.
Taylor said: “They show all of the Premier League games over here and I am up at 4am or 5am or whatever for every Newcastle match.
“I have even converted some of the other lads to the cause and they are joining me now.
“The manager knows and he lets me come in an hour later for the pool sessions at 10am.
“It is nice he understands how much Newcastle means to me but I turn up with the rest of the lads at 9.00 anyway as I want to set an example because I am one of the senior players here!
“However, I would not miss a match. I am still the same Newcastle supporter I was when I was at the club.”
Thousands of miles away from St James’ Park, the club will always be in his heart.
Yet life at his current club, sixth in the ten-team A-League but on the rise after being tipped to struggle in pre-season, is good. Very good.
Taylor’s unlikely journey to the other side of the world might have seemed like a strange one after he spent last season at Peterborough United – “a brilliant experience,” he says without a moment’s hesitation – but it is one he is relishing.
A buzzing, brilliant city with a beach, marina and thriving cafe culture, Wellington is also home to the A-League’s only Kiwi club.
Taylor was recruited to add experience to the squad and his leadership role at Wellington is one he is enjoying.
He added: “I am playing with a smile on my face. Every day I come into training and play in the games and I absolutely love it.
“When I joined there were a few people looking at me saying ‘Why have you gone there?’ but it is the challenge for me.
“I wanted to test myself in a new environment and we have had some success here. I love being part of it.”
Taylor’s side share a gym with the All Blacks and seeing the way they play – and are revered – has been an eye-opener. As has meeting Newcastle fans Down Under - he has met a few for coffee or in home ends when he has gone to away matches.
“I just love that – you are all that way away but you are never far from a Geordie voice,” he says. Mike Ashley’s name is never far from the conversation and Taylor wishes there was greater backing for the manager - but he insists it should not stop the side from clambering to safety.
Taylor went on: “It has been the same for a long time and I have experienced it being in that dressing room when things like that are swirling around the club and one thing it will do is breed a seige mentality.
“It is us against the world lads, everyone says we are not good enough so let’s roll our sleeves up and prove everyone wrong.
“I think they will be OK. Rafa is phenomenal and in Salomon Rondon they have a great physical presence. I love watching him play, he is a proper No 9, a real handful.”
Taylor looks back at the blackand-white rollercoaster ride with great pride.
He represented his club and country with distinction and says he would love to return one day in some capacity.
He said: “I will come back to watch games and I would love to work with the under-23s or Academy one day. For now, there is a lot of football left to play.”
A huge regret is Newcastle never converted their golden generation under Sir Bobby Robson or the class of 2012 into the currency of silverware.
That was the result, he feels, of bad management and a bad attitude from some players towards cup competitions Taylor had dearly wanted Newcastle to target.
He added: “We reached two European quarter-finals in my time and I think the Sporting Lisbon game was the one.
“People talk about the Entertainers but we have had other opportunities to win trophies and the Sporting Lisbon game still haunts me.
“We had a great team under Sir Bobby and that game was there to be won. If we had, I think the momentum would have taken us into the win.
“Then in 2013 we felt we had a chance in the Europa League as well. We were good enough that year and if we had beaten Benfica we had enough to win it.”
Taylor feels the attitude to cups in the latter stage of his United career left a lot to be desired. Hesaid: “As a club, we should have actively targeted a League Cup or an FA Cup – played our strongest side through the rounds and just seen where it took us.
“I used to get frustrated about it. I have seen Newcastle players knocking on the door of the manager and asking to be rested for the early rounds of cups, which cannot be right. “I don’t know why they would not want to play because it is a chance of glory for the club.
“When it happened to me and I was not played I did not understand why. I did not want to be protected for the Premier League, I wanted to try and get as far as I could in one of the cups - but that was how the cups were treated really.
“It was so frustrating. Can you imagine what it would have done to the club to actually win something?”
As a club, we should have actively targeted a League Cup or FA Cup ... I used to get frustrated about it Steven Taylor
Although Taylor had some regrets, he is mainly just thankful of everything that came his way.
He recalled: “I remember as a cocky 16-year-old saying to (kit man) Ray Thompson and (physio) Derek Wright, ‘Which is Alan Shearer’s peg? I will be in here with him one day you know. They used to laugh about it but it was all I ever wanted and I achieved it.”
The Europa League win over Anzhi was the loudest he heard St James’ Park, the derby wins over Sunderland and running the gauntlet at the Stadium of Light also remembered fondly.
Taylor said: “I loved it, man. The passion in that match is what it is about and I was just being honest.
“Why shouldn’t I just say what I think about the rivalry? I have spoken to Sunderland fans about it since and they agree about the rivalry. They hated me but that is part of football, the rivalry and wanting your team to win.
“I loved those games and I loved beating Sunderland and they’ would say the same the other way.
“There is no point in lying about it or dressing it up, is there?”
His final season ended in relegation under Rafa Benitez but he recognised a “genius” in Newcastle’s dugout.
Taylor addd: “Rafa is fantastic. He reminded me of Sir Bobby Robson and he was the closest we have had – I loved working with him.
“Tactically he was unbelievable. The final game of the season against Spurs was bittersweet in a way – we were down by then but that was culmination of everything Rafa was working on with us.
“In the week before the game he identified every weakness in their armoury and he put the information into us so well. I think the football world was shocked we beat them 5-1 but I wasn’t because he had told us how to beat them.
“I just wished we had have got him in a bit earlier because with that squad and that manager we could have kicked on in the Premier League next year.”
It was not to be. Taylor – although receiving an offer from Newcastle to stay on – decided to move on seeking regular football.
The future for Taylor is in the A-League but he sincerely hopes for Newcastle it is with their A-List manager.