Alan Taylor (born 17 May 1943) is a former English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Playing career

Taylor began his professional career with

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in 1963 after joining from local club Blackpool Rangers. Due to the form of

Tony Waiters Anthony Keith Waiters (1 February 1937 – 5 November 2020) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is better known for his coaching career in Canada. He managed the Vancouver Whitecaps to an NASL championship, and was in charg ...

, Taylor didn't make his league debut for Blackpool until 29 January 1966, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in a goalless draw with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

. Another goalless draw followed, this time against

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

at Bloomfield Road, before Waiters returned to the fold for the remainder of the 1966–67 season. The following season, 1967–68, Taylor made only two early- one late-season league appearances in Waiters' absence. When Waiters left to become a coach at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in April 1967, thus missing Blackpool's final six games of the season, manager Stan Mortensen favoured another goalkeeper – Kevin Thomas – for five of the games. Thomas also started the first the games of the 1967–68 league season, before Taylor finally made the number-one jersey his own, appearing between the sticks for Blackpool's remaining 39 league games. In 1968–69, Taylor made 38 league appearances. He missed four games in late March and early April, at which point Thomas deputised, but he regained his place for the run-in. Under new manager

Les Shannon Leslie Shannon (12 March 1926 – 2 December 2007) was an English football player and manager. As a forward, he scored 40 goals in 274 league games in the Football League, playing for Liverpool between November 1944 and November 1949 and t ...

, Taylor made only three league appearances during Blackpool's successful 1969–70 campaign, in which they gained promotion to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

as runners-up behind Huddersfield Town. He was loaned out to Oldham Athletic during the season. In his final season at Blackpool, 1970–71, Taylor's appearances were again limited: just nine in the league. His final appearance for Blackpool occurred on 17 April 1971, in a 3–2 home defeat to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He was loaned out to Stockport County and Northern Premier League club Fleetwood during the season. Taylor signed for Southport in 1971, and he finished his career with ''the Sandgrounders''.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Alan 1943 births Living people English footballers Association football goalkeepers Blackpool F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Southport F.C. players People from Thornton-Cleveleys