Gregory Vaughan Taylor (born 15 January 1990) is an English 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 ...

who plays for club

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

. He is a central defender who has played at

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for some of his career. He has also played in central midfield.

Club career

Taylor was born in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. He made his

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

debut for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 90th minute, away to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

team

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 ...

, in the 2–1 win in the

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 ...

on 26 August 2008. That was his only first-team appearance before Mark Cooper signed him for

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

before the 2009–10 season. In January 2011 he rejoined Cooper at fellow Conference club

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, where he signed an 18-month contract. Darlington had a poor start in the 2011/12 season which led to the chairman Raj Singh offering reduced terms to some of the playing squad whilst others were sold to balance the books. In November 2011, Taylor signed on loan at fellow Conference side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

until January 2012, with the deal then becoming permanent. On signing for Luton Town manager

Gary Brabin Gary Brabin (born 9 December 1970) is an English former professional footballer, coach and manager who is the Sporting Director at Cymru Premier team The New Saints. A midfielder with a 12-year career in the English Football League, he repres ...

said of Taylor "he's a young lad who is ready for us now. He's got a real energy and that ability to get up and down the pitch." He played in 18 games for Luton during the 2011–12 season, scoring once in a 5–0 victory over his former club Kettering Town. The following season he went on loan to Conference club Tamworth on 27 September 2012, where he played 10 games over the course of two months. He was involved in Luton's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

campaign to the Fifth Round in early 2013, playing at left-back in 1–0 wins over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and

side

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, and also in the 3–0 defeat to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

that brought the run to an end. Buckle left the club two weeks later to be replaced by

John Still John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an ...

, who reinstated Taylor back to the first-team. However, Taylor chose to leave and sign on loan at promotion-chasing Conference club

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

on 28 March 2013. Taylor played in Mansfield's final eight games of the season as they won six of them to achieve promotion to

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. He was not offered a new contract at Luton and was released by the club at the end of the season. On 20 June 2013, Taylor signed a two-year contract with

until the end of the 2014–15 season. During the 2013/2014 season Greg Taylor won both the FA Trophy and promotion to the Football League with Cambridge United. He was an integral part of the U's squad to do the double and was ever-present at left back. He signed a contract extension until the 2016/2017 season with the U's in January 2015. Taylor also started in both FA Cup games against Manchester United. The first game saw Manchester United make the trip to the abbey stadium which ended in 0–0, earning Cambridge a replay at Old Trafford in the 2015/16 season where they lost 3-0. Taylor extended his deal with Cambridge united in 2018, which would take him to the end of the 2019/20 season https://www.cambridge-united.co.uk/news/2018/april/greg-taylor-contract-extension/. In 2019 he was made the club captain. In January 2019, Greg hit a milestone of 250 appearances in Cambridge united's amber and black on 9 July 2020, Taylor signed a new 1 year contract extension with the U's. On 17 August 2021, Taylor suffered an ankle injury vs.

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. In September 2021, Taylor underwent surgery on the ankle and was ruled out for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. On 5 May 2022, Taylor signed a further 1-year contract with the East Anglian club.

International career

In September 2010, Taylor made his debut for

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it fe ...

against the

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

under-23 selection.

Career Statistics

Club

Honours

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

champions –

* 2013–14:

play-off winner –

* 2013–14:

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

winners –

References

External links

* * – appearances at Tamworth in 2012–13 season categorised on Soccerbase under the name Rico Taylor. {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Greg 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Bedford English footballers England semi-pro international footballers Association football defenders Northampton Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players National League (English football) players People educated at Mark Rutherford School Footballers from Bedfordshire