Gerald Taggart (born 18 October 1970) is a Northern Irish former professional

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 le ...

. He played for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

as well as the Northern Ireland national team. A former defender, Taggart began his career as a trainee with

in 1989 but joined

in 1990 after being unable to break into the first team at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

. He soon became a popular player with the "Tykes" supporters due to his passionate and committed performances. After spending five years with Barnsley making 249 appearances he joined

where he helped them to win the

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 ...

title in 1996–97. He signed for

in 1998 and played in back to back League Cup Finals with Leicester winning the cup in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. He remained with Leicester until 2003 when he joined

. He spent three seasons at the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but ...

and after a short spell with Tamworth he retired from playing. After his retirement in 2007, he began his coaching/managing career for Leicester. On 10 June 2010, he was announced as the new assistant manager at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

. He was placed on

garden leave Garden leave (also known as gardening leave) is the practice whereby an employee leaving a job – having resigned or otherwise had their employment terminated – is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remainin ...

by the club on 31 December 2012 following a run of poor results.

Club career

Manchester City

Taggart started his career as a trainee with

in 1989. Taggart spent one season with the club making 13 appearances, and scoring one goal.

Barnsley

Limited chances in the Manchester City team saw Taggart drop down a division to take up the option of joining

where he spent five seasons, making the Northern Irish national team in the process. Taggart spent most of his time at Barnsley under former Northern Ireland player Danny Wilson, where he made 247 appearances and scored 20 goals for the club.

Bolton Wanderers

Taggart signed for

for a club record £1.5 million on 1 August 1995, as they prepared for the Premier League after winning promotion from Division One. However, he was unable to prevent them from being relegated after just one season. In his second season with the club, Taggart helped Bolton reach the Premier League after they had amassed 98 points and scored 100 goals in that season and gained promotion as Champions of the First Division. The following season Taggart was relegated back to the First Division. In a total of three seasons with the club, Taggart made 81 appearances, scoring five goals for Bolton, with one such goal coming in the last ever game at the clubs old

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

ground against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in April 1997.

Leicester City

Taggart again played in the Premier League when he signed for

on 16 June 1998. Taggart was often partnered with Steve Walsh and Matt Elliott in Leicester's defence. In 2000, he won a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

winners medal with Leicester. He scored his last European goal in a 1–1

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

draw against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

on 15 September 2000, at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

. In the 2001–02 season Leicester were relegated from the Premier League and Taggart opted to remain with the "Foxes" and helped them regain their top-flight status. He was over looked for the first team squad in the Premier League and joined Stoke City on loan then on a permanent basis.

Stoke City

Taggart joined

on loan on 9 December 2003. He instantly impressed Stoke manager

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him one ...

with his leadership qualities. His loan deal was extended for another month on 6 January 2004. But he was recalled by Leicester. He joined Stoke on a permanent basis on 26 February 2004 until the end of the 2003–04. He then signed an extension at Stoke turning down an approach from

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. He formed a decent defensive partnership with

Michael Duberry Michael Wayne Duberry (born 14 October 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He started his career with Premier League side Chelsea, and also played in the top flight for Leeds United and Reading, and i ...

in the 2004–05 season Pulis was sacked at the end of it though and was replaced by

Johan Boskamp Johannes "Johan/Jan" Boskamp (born 21 October 1948) is a Dutch former football player and manager. He played the majority of his career for hometown club Feyenoord and Belgian side RWDM and managed primarily in the Belgian leagues. Currently he ...

. Boskamp used Taggart as a coach during his one season spell and he was not offered a new contract at the end of the season.

Tamworth

Taggart had spent the 2006–07 season back with his former club Leicester City to take his coaching badges. He signed for

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

division side Tamworth on 16 May 2007. He played twice for the "Lambs" leaving to become assistant manager at Leicester.

International career

Taggart played international football for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, making his debut in 1990 and spending 13 years at the back for Northern Ireland with his final appearance coming in 2003 while at Leicester. Taggart earned 51 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring seven goals. He retired from his Northern Ireland and international football career on 18 August 2003. Taggart spent 21 months out of the team after he was dropped by

Lawrie McMenemy Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English ...

in 1998. He was recalled by incoming manager

Sammy McIlroy Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland natio ...

Coaching career

Taggart returned to Leicester on 13 September 2007 as first team coach under

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers and ...

. He and

Frank Burrows Frank Burrows (30 January 1944 – 24 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager who played as a central defender. Life and career Frank Burrows began his football career at Scottish club Raith Rovers. In 1965 he moved south to ...

became caretaker managers following Megson's departure to Bolton Wanderers on 25 October 2007. Taggart left Leicester on 10 June 2010, when it was announced he would become the new assistant manager at

alongside former Leicester teammate

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

. He was placed on

by the club on 31 December 2012 following a run of poor results.

After football

In July 2014, Taggart was appointed as a match summariser for

matches on

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

during the pre-season, replacing the popular Leicester striker,

Alan Young Alan Young (born Angus Young; November 19, 1919 – May 19, 2016) was a British, Canadian and American actor, comedian, radio host and television host, whom ''TV Guide'' called "the Charlie Chaplin of television". His notable roles includ ...

. He also appeared on the station's weekly ''Leicester City Football Forum'' talk show. Taggart's media career was brief; less than three weeks later he resigned from the role in order to take up the role as chief scout at Doncaster Rovers, but resigned in October 2015, following the sacking of

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Taggart goal.''

Honours

Manchester City *

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

runner-up: 1988–89 Bolton Wanderers *

Football League 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 ...

: 1996–97 Leicester City *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 1999–2000 *

runner-up: 1998–99 *

runner-up: 2002–03 Individual * First Division

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1996–97

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taggart, Gerry 1970 births Living people Association football defenders Association footballers from Belfast Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Manchester City F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Premier League players English Football League managers Leicester City F.C. managers Leicester City F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff Doncaster Rovers F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players Football managers from Northern Ireland National League (English football) players