Andrew Taylor (born 14 March 1986) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender.

Early life

Born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, Lancashire, Taylor attended St Paul's RC Primary and St Bede's RC High School in Blackburn and is a product of Blackburn Rovers Youth Academy. Having represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at both under-19 and under-20 level. Taylor then turned professional in 2004 and Taylor signed a new three-year deal with Blackburn Rovers in September 2005.

Club career

Blackburn Rovers

Whilst at Blackburn, Taylor has had loan spells at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, Blackpool,

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

(from 31 January 2007 to 5 April 2007) and

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

Tranmere Rovers

Tranmere decided to make his loan move permanent, signing him on a two and a half-year contract for an undisclosed fee in the January 2008 transfer window. Taylor made 30 league appearances in total for Tranmere during the 2007–08 season, scoring a single goal, a half volley against Crewe on New Year's Day 2008. His only goal of the 2008–09 season came at home to Colchester, he curled in a long range free kick.

Sheffield United

Taylor was transferred to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in July 2009 for an undisclosed fee. He made his full debut for The Blades came in the opening game of the season in August 2009; a 0–0 draw with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. After an initial run of games Taylor sustained an injury on Boxing Day 2010 which eventually kept him sidelined for fourteen months. On his return to fitness, he was unable to break back into the side and made only four more appearances for United during the 2011–12 season and was subsequently released by The Blades in May 2012 when his contract expired.

Walsall

After being released by Sheffield United, Taylor signed for

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

on non-contract terms on 28 August. He played against

and had an excellent debut for the Saddlers. After the match, Taylor told the club's official website that he is happy to join Walsall, insisting he wanted to play regularly . Having made twenty-two appearances for the club, Taylor signed a new 18-month contract at the club. On 12 October 2013 he scored a memorable free-kick in the sixth minute of injury time in a 1–1 game away to Colchester. The goal proved especially lucrative for a family in the Swedish city of

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

who won 10.103.752 SEK (approximately £929,793) on the national football betting called ''Stryktipset''.

Blackpool

He was released by Blackpool at the end of the 2017–18 season.

International career

Taylor has represented England at international level being capped by both the England under-19 under-20 teams respectively.

Coaching career

In July 2020, Taylor became a coach at

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wesh ...

following his retirement. In September 2022, following the resignation of James Rowe, Taylor was appointed interim manager.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Andy 1986 births Living people English footballers Footballers from Blackburn Association football defenders Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players AFC Fylde players English Football League players National League (English football) players Association football coaches AFC Fylde managers National League (English football) managers