Joseph William John Taylor (born 18 November 2002) is a 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 lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for club

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

and is a Wales under-21 international.

Club career

King's Lynn Town

Taylor began his career in the

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, before being released at the age of 15. After a period at Swaffham Town, Taylor signed for King's Lynn Town at the age of 16. Taylor signed a one-year contract extension King's Lynn in December 2020. Taylor joined Eastern Counties League Premier Division club

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 household ...

on loan ahead of the 2021–22 season, making his debut on the opening day against

Walsham-le-Willows Walsham le Willows is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in Suffolk, England, located around 3 miles (4 km) south-east of Stanton. Queen Elizabeth I granted Walsham le Willows to Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great ...

. In his first home match, Taylor scored a hat-trick as his side thrashed Thetford Town 7–2. In October 2021, Taylor was recalled by King's Lynn after scoring 21 goals in just thirteen appearances and made his National League debut off of the bench in a 1–0 home defeat to

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

Peterborough United

On 15 November 2021, Taylor joined

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 sys ...

club

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year deal, initially joining up with the club's under-23 squad. In December 2021, it was reported that Taylor had been impressing in the under-23 squad and would begin training with the first-team. After scoring a hat-trick in a Premier League Cup quarter-final victory against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, Taylor made his first-team debut four days later on 8 March 2022 in a 1–1 draw with second-placed

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

. He scored his first goal for Peterborough in an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

win over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

on 10 August 2022.

Luton Town

On 31 January 2023, Taylor signed for

club

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

for an undisclosed fee. On 5 August 2023, Taylor signed for League Two club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

on a season-long loan. He was recalled from his loan on 8 January 2024. On 9 January 2024, Taylor signed for League One club Lincoln City for the remainder of the season. He made his debut the following weekend in the 1–1 draw against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

. He scored his first goal against

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

on 17 February 2024 to secure a 1–0 win. He won the

EFL League One Player of the Month The EFL League One Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. Originally named the Football League One Play ...

and the

EFL Young Player of the Month The EFL Young Player of the Month is an award for young players in all three divisions of the English Football League. To be eligible players must be under-21 or turn 21 during the current season. It was first awarded in December 2009. Victor Mos ...

for March 2024, following 6 goals and an assist which included his first professional hat-trick in the 5–0 win over

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

. He would win Lincoln City's Golden Boot, after scoring 10 goals in his 19 games for the club.

Huddersfield Town

On 10 January 2025, Taylor signed for League One club

on a four-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee.

International career

In September 2022 Taylor made his debut for the

Wales national under-21 football team The Wales national under-21 football team, also known as the Wales U21s, is the national under-21 football team of Wales and is controlled by the Football Association of Wales. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championsh ...

in the starting line-up for the 2–0 friendly match defeat against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

under-21.

Career statistics

Honours

Luton Town *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *

: March 2024 *

: March 2024

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Joe 2002 births Living people Footballers from King's Lynn Welsh men's footballers 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Wales men's under-21 international footballers English people of Welsh descent Men's association football forwards Norwich City F.C. players King's Lynn Town F.C. players Wroxham F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Eastern Counties Football League players National League (English football) players English Football League players