Here is an article by Russ looking at the recently departed Maik Taylor. The image is used with kind permission of Birmingham City FC.
I couldn’t help but notice a disturbing absence of any sentiment whatsoever, at the departure of one of our longest serving (and committed) players, Maik Taylor.
We’ve now lost Lee Bowyer, Sebastian Larsson, Martin Jiranek, Obafemi Martins, Matt Derbyshire, Dan Preston, Kevin Phillips, Robin Shroot, James O’Shea, Mitch McPike, Jacob Rowe, Stuart Parnaby, David Bentley, Aleksandr Hleb and Marcus Bent.
None of these have been at the club as long as Maik Taylor, though, and – seemingly – he was worth no more of a ‘farewell’ than to be included in the list of players we had released. Not even so much as a ‘BCFC thank the players for their service’. I know the club needed to reduce the wage bill, in light of our relegation, but still you would think we should appear to be more loyal to a player with so many club appearances!
How are we to persuade the likes of Ben Foster to stay with us, when we treat players at the end of their contract, like a commodity that has now passed its usefulness?
Some of the players in the list had not featured in the first team, so that’s life in football I guess. Some had actively sought out a move, the Seb Larsson show still ticks on in the background. As I type, four Premiership clubs are rumoured to be ‘vying’ for his signature. A part of me is surprised he hasn’t already signed for one or the other. Perhaps they’re all waiting for him to accept less wages than those we offered him to remain at Saint Andrews? There would be a sense of justice there. Houllier is set to depart Villa Park, so you would presume that Aston Villa won’t be signing Larsson (or making their rumoured double swoop for Dann and Foster) until they’ve decided upon their new manager. I hear Martin O’Neill is available…heh heh.
Some of the players on the list had only played a bit part in the Blues squad for one reason or another. Martins due to injury, Parnaby due to indifferent form and the fickle nature of the managers he had to rely on for his place in the squad.
Maik Taylor, however, a Northern Irish international goalkeeper, was a penalty-saving hero for our boys, in the Carling Cup match against Brentford. This save alone could well have served as the platform for our Wembley triumph! McLeish himself said after the Brentford game, “It was not about loyalty as such when we gave them (Phillips and Taylor) new contracts in the summer…we felt there was still mileage in these two guys and you saw in this cup tie that there certainly is…Maik is also a top pro”. This was borne out by what Maik himself said “”I think it has to help, that work ethic…It’s quite sad to say it, but not every professional footballer that I’ve come across has that mentality.
There’s actually more than a minority that don’t have it, which is pretty sad to see…when I have had disappointments in the game I’ve managed to put them to one side and look at the positives and realise what a fantastic job I’m in. I’m still enjoying it. I still wake up every morning looking forward to training, and while that’s the case, long may it continue…for some players, there’s always an easy excuse for not getting down to hard work…it often happens when players aren’t involved in the first team. I spent 18 months out of the first team at Fulham and I couldn’t get my head round guys turning up for reserve games and just going through the motions…but people were just going and not trying a leg, because it was the reserves and they were seeing it as some kind of punishment. It was amazing. A lot of pros do appreciate their job. But not all.” We’ll definitely miss that attitude, in the Championship.
Now, I’m sure we’ve got a bright future in the hands of Jack Butland. Colin Doyle has been unlucky not to have had more first team football, thanks to the form of Joe Hart, Ben Foster and – indeed – Maik Taylor and has experience with Blues in the Championship. So the goalkeeping spot, presuming no ‘tempting’ offer for Ben Foster is accepted before the new season kicks off, is covered more than adequately, so it must have been foreseeable that one of Doyle or Taylor was going to go. Both had reached the end of their contracts, and both had a one year ‘option’, Doyle’s was the only one taken up. Perhaps that made it academic which keeper was ‘shown the door’, but still, you may think we owed him a little more than the ‘send off’ he was given. A Carling Cup Winners’ medal (he was on the bench as Doyle was cup tied!), a handshake, and a goodbye…
He played for Farnborough, Barnet and Southampton (replacing Dave Beasant) before moving to Fulham (bought by Kevin Keegan), where he was very unlucky to be behind none other than Edwin Van Der Sar in the ‘pecking order’. I say unlucky, though it was to prove in our favour, as he was thus available for the ‘knockdown’ price of £1.5m after a year on loan. This was in August 2003, so he has been with Blues for just shy of 8 years! Sadly, this is a couple of years below the ‘accepted’ threshold for a ‘testimonial’ match, but eight years is a HUGE amount of time to spend at one club these days!
In fact Maik managed to ‘rack up’ 165 Premiership appearances for us, with 77 Championship appearances on top, he’s played over 240 times for our club. Seb came closest to matching that with 180-odd appearances. I’m sure Maik was well paid for his service, but it still surprises me that nothing more was made of his departure. Certainly not by the club, anyway! He’s not been a guaranteed starter for Northern Ireland, of late – perhaps no surprise for a 39 year old – but I suspect this was more to do with being hampered by a rare injury, than by being ‘too old for the job’. I do wonder what his next move might be. He’d certainly make an excellent choice for the bench at any Premiership team, in my opinion. Potentially he could stake a claim for any lower league team’s first team. I haven’t heard any rumours that he wishes to retire, so perhaps he’ll head into coaching. Something we could do with at Birmingham City’s Academy, to keep an eye on Butland, perhaps (we already have the highly rated Dave Watson for the first team). You would suspect that if this was going to happen, it would have been announced when we announced his departure, though. Whatever his next move is, I am sure the readers of ‘Joys and Sorrows’ would want to join me in saying ‘Thanks for over seven years of excellent service’, which also included a good and useful appearance in this year’s excellent FA Cup run!
Thanks Maik!
Yes Maik deserves a note from the Blues saying how much the fans thought of him. He served the club well over the seven years at St Andrews. We wish him all the very best.
I spoke to maik at the belfry last friday and he told me that he was finished with football.he was gutted that we had been relegated and came across as a very nice chap.he was very critical of one of the blues players who had refused to have an injection before the fulham game!. i agree with your article that more should of been made of his great service to the club.
As well as a great keeper, he was an absolute gent. His son played in the same division as my lad, and he was always happy to oblige with autographs, and go in goals for a penalty shoot-out after the kids games.
The reason we were able to get further on the road to Wembley can be put down to the performances of KP and MT in that game against Brentford. I will be eternally grateful to both of them.
Cameron Jerome is the only player I can think of who didn’t feature at Fulham that could have needed an injection. He doesn’t strike me as a shirker though…
I also would like to express my thanks to Maik Taylor, a great ‘keeper & a loyal club servant.
Thanks Maik , you never let us down . You now join the elite Hall of fame of really great goalies at St Andrews,
Merrick , Cooper , Montgomery , Wealands , Kelly , Coton , Seaman , and 2 or 3 others ( maybe )
I think he’s been one of our best goalies – a great shot stopper -and we’ve been well served by our keepers over the years. It always amazed me that so many Blues fans concentrated on his alleged shortcomings as a kicker. Like criticising a striker for his poor tackling.
KRO Maik, a cracking ‘Keeper always jumped on too easily in my opinion. As Pete says, lambasting his kicking is like lambasting a striker’s tackling. His main job was to keep the ball out of our net and a lot of the time he was as good as anyone. Remember that performance at Eastlands in ’04?
i agree it’s sad to see such a fine pro leave without any sort of acknowledgement by the club, but then you look at who runs clubs these days and you realise they are just hard nosed businessmen. Yueng, David Gold, Sugar, Ecclestone etc etc. they are in it to make money and of course to massage their over inflated egos.
good luck Maik from a blue nose that really appreciated all the years of effort you put in. you really rank up there with the best of them.
Quiet, unassuming, dedicated; all of these and much more. We have been indebted to him many times in those 240+ games and, yes, I am sure he has been financially well rewarded.
But so have many others and they didn’t always display Maik’s level of commitment.
Good luck to him in whatever direction his life now takes him and, above all, thanks!!
Always felt personally that Maik Taylor was arrogant. Cared more for making his saves spectacular than doing the routine. Whenever he played I never felt confident about his ability as a keeper and therefore I am glad that he has left the club. I personally feel that he should have left the club 2/3 years ago. I am sure him leaving will allow Colin Doyle’s career to progress as a direct result. I think part of the reason that he was not offered a new contract was down to the fact he’s got a very serious back injury which would have led to him not being fit for the start of the season. It looks likely that this injury may end his football career and it didn’t help that he’s approaching 40. Blues have employed him for the last two years to do nothing but be a reserve and it’s not as if Blues have treated him badly at all. Not to be disrespectful but I don’t see the point in this article at all.
Maik was a fine keeper for he club and very dependable. Was always a fan of his and i’m very sad to see him go. Whenever a corner swung into the box i was always confident he’d catch it. A very safe pair of hands. Good luck to him.
August.
Sorry I don’t see the point of your comment.
August you are being disrespectful towards a loyal and committed professional who has always given his best for this club over the last 8 years, its a shame that you don’t understand why Blues fans want to pay some small tribute and show their appreciation to a player that has always given his best for you! Maik you certainly have my very best wishes for the future and thanks for all that you have done without ever complaining, hope to see you at a few games you will will always get a warm reception at St Andrews KRO.
Apart from the one sour comment from August (what is he thinking) I would like to join all the others and say a big thankyou to Maik, a fantastic servant to the club. An excellent shot stopper, very safe pair of hands. Even taking the likes of Merrick, Withers, Seaman, Hart and Foster into consideration, I do not think there was safer pair of hands when it came to taking crosses. I have lost count the number of times Maik kept us in games, don’t forget Blues have held records for clean sheets etc and a lot of those were down to Maik. Over the years I would defy any other club to match the list of good keepers we have had since Harry Hibbs, we have certainly had our fair share of international keepers and its continuing to this day (unfortunately a lot would say its because they get a lot of practice). Well done Maik, you were a star, all the best for the future (how about understudy keeping coach)
Total credit to the game and held in high esteem by those who have met him as a person. Good luck to him and may he have every success in his future ventures.
I’d have to echo all off the sentiments here and wish Maik all the best for the future. Not many players these days make 200+ appearances for one club and I for one am grateful that he did.
Maik Taylor, you deserve at least this demonstration of how much you are appreciated. A great keeper, kept us in lots of games. I had the privilege of seeing him at a hotel in Belfast when he was with the NI team, having breakfast! He was a real gent, chatting about Blues and having photo taken etc. No player has to do that but the ones who appreciate how lucky they are to do a job they love and get paid so well for it realise that us fans are worth spending a minute or two with. I wish Maik the best whatever he ends up doing. Class act for nearly 8 years, let’s hope we can pick up some more £1.5m bargains this season, we a re going to need them!
Well said that man! I was thinking the same thing, no mention, no thank you, just there’s the door son! After all he did for the club.
I met him in Tenerife in a bar i work in, his face proper lit up when i said to him i had to shake his hand for being one of the best goalies we’ve had. He was a proud bluenose and deserves more recognition.
Very good article and i wish him all the best and big thanks.
KRO
My thanks and appreciation to those already expressed. A great pro and excellent keeper. Like all players he had strengths and weaknesses but the former far outweighed the latter. Thank you for what you did for our club Maik and all the best in whatever you decide to do in the future.
KRO SOTV
I too feel compelled to say a massive thanks to Maik for all his years at the club – don’t forget, he had opportunities to sit on other ‘bigger club’ benches in recent years, but felt the loyalty to stick with the Blues and fight for his place, a battle he was never likely to win. Great memories of a superb shot-stopper, and I’ll also echo the sentiments about how open and friendly he was in public – had a great close-season conversation with him on the way to my brother’s stag do in Belfast a couple of years ago and he was a really top bloke. All the best Maik in whatever you do – a true gent all round, and a great keeper too!!
August johnston, keep your stupid thoughts and your stupid name to yourself. That is all.