Ryan Paul Taylor (born 4 May 1988) 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 ...

plays as a striker for

National League 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 Syst ...

side

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. He has previously played for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

, Plymouth Argyle, Newport County and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

Career

Rotherham United and loans

Born in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

, Taylor began his career as a trainee at

in July 2005, making his first-team debut as an 81st-minute substitute in a 1–0 home defeat to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

. He made twelve first-team appearances in the 2006–07 season before

glandular fever In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

ruled him out for the rest of the season in November 2006. Following Rotherham's relegation to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

at the end of the 2006–07 season, he signed a new two-year contract, and then joined Conference National side

on a one-month loan in September 2007. On his return to Rotherham, he established himself in the first team and scored his first goal for Rotherham in a 2–0 win over

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in November 2007. By the end of the 2007–08 season, Taylor had made 38 appearances for Rotherham, scoring six goals.

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier Leagu ...

twice extended Taylor's contract: in May 2008 and then the following year, each time by one year. This surprised some supporters and critics, who questioned Robins' persistence with the young striker.

Ronnie Moore Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He played for many different clubs in a care ...

again took charge of the Millers at the start of the 2009–10 season, by which time Taylor had scored 10 goals in almost 100 appearances, sending him out on loan to

. Taylor made an immediate impact to the Exeter squad, helping them avoid relegation and receiving Man of the Match awards on several occasions. He returned to his hometown club in time for the play-off finals, where he went straight into the starting line up on the strength of his performances at Exeter, and scored two goals in the final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Bristol City

On 20 June 2011, Taylor signed a three-year deal with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

for an undisclosed fee. He made his Robins debut on 17 August, but in a 1–2 loss to

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 ...

; Taylor netted his first goal for the club on 28 April 2012, in a 1–1 away draw against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. Despite featuring more regularly in his second season, Taylor failed to make an impression and left the club in January 2014, with the Robins being relegated to League One in the process.

Portsmouth

On 9 January 2014, Taylor left Bristol City and signed an 18-month deal with

side

, being handed the number 20 shirt. He made his debut for Pompey two days later, starting in a 0–0 draw against

. On 24 February 2015, Taylor scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to ensure Pompey's comeback against

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 ...

and guide them to a 3–2 win, after Pompey had trailed 0–2.

Oxford United

On 26 May 2015, Taylor signed for fellow

side

on a two-year deal. He was a first-team regular during the first half of the 2015–16 season, but missed the second half through injury, at the end of which Oxford were promoted to League One. He returned to regular first-team appearances the following season, though often as a substitute. His contract was ended by mutual consent at the end of the January transfer window in 2017, and he signed immediately for Plymouth Argyle, promotion-chasers in League Two. In his one and a half seasons with Oxford, he scored 4 league goals in 43 appearances (19 as substitute), 3 FA Cup goals and once in the Football League Trophy.

Plymouth Argyle

On 30 January 2017, Taylor signed for

side Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer. The 28-year-old forward became

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently manager of Morecambe. Adams played professionally for six clubs, including Aberdeen and Motherwell, where he made over 300 league appearances ...

' fourth signing of the January transfer window to further bolster the Pilgrims' attacking options going into the crucial final part of their promotion challenge. Taylor made his debut for Argyle on 4 February during a 1–0 away win against

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 Ne ...

, and scored his first goal for the club on his home debut, a 3–0 victory over local rivals

on 11 February. Taylor re-signed for Plymouth Argyle at the end of the 2017–18 season. His contract was not renewed by Plymouth Argyle at the end of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

affected 2019–20 season.

Newport County

On 20 August 2020 Taylor joined Newport County on a one-year deal. He made his debut for Newport on 5 September 2020 as a second-half substitute in the 2–0 EFL Cup win against Swansea City. He scored his first goal for Newport County on 12 September 2020 in the 1–1 draw against Scunthorpe United on the first day of the 2020–21 League Two season. Taylor played for Newport in the League Two playoff final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

on 31 May 2021 which Newport lost to Morecambe, 1-0 after a 107th-minute penalty. On 4 June 2021 it was announced that he would leave Newport County at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract.

Grimsby Town

On 22 June 2021, Taylor joined

on a one-year contract. Taylor scored a diving header to make it 3-3 against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in the National League play-off semi-final, Grimsby would win the game 4-5 following extra time. Taylor played in the

2022 National League play-off final The 2022 National League play-off Final, known as the Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match played on 5 June 2022 at the London Stadium between Solihull Moors and Grimsby Town. It dete ...

as Grimsby beat

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

2–1 at the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford, London, Stratford district of London. It is located ...

to return to the Football League. On 24 June 2022, Grimsby announced Taylor has signed a new one-year contract of their 2022–23 EFL League Two campaign. Taylor was part of the Grimsby side that reached the

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 ...

quarter finals for the first time since 1939, he came on as a substitute during the 2-1 win away at

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 Fo ...

side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

that sealed the achivement. On 9 May 2023, it was announced that Taylor would not be retained for the 2023–24 season and would be leaving the club when his contract expires on 30 June.

Alfreton Town

On 21 June 2023, Taylor signed for

side

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United *

play-off finalists 2009–10 Newport County *

play-off finalists 2020–21 Grimsby Town *

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

play-off winners:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Ryan 1988 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Rotherham United F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players English Football League players Oxford United F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players