Maik Taylor

Club career In June 1995, Taylor joined Barnet of the Football League Third Division for a fee of £700.

Souness left the club in the summer of 1997, being replaced by Dave Jones who brought in several new players, including goalkeeper Paul Jones from his previous club, Stockport County. Taylor spent the rest of his time at Southampton on the bench and was sold to Fulham in November 1997. and he proved to be a good signing for the Cottagers, helping them win the Second Division title in 1999. The First Division championship followed in 2001 and thus promotion to the Premier League.

Whilst at Craven Cottage, Taylor earned his first international cap for Northern Ireland in a 3–0 defeat by Germany on 27 March 1999. He went on to make over 80 appearances for his adopted country. ruled him out for several months, allowing Taylor to return to the side, and he retained his place for the remainder of the season. Manager Steve Bruce made the contract permanent in March 2004 for a £1.5 million fee. Taylor continued his impressive form and was rewarded by being nominated as the goalkeeper for the Premiership team of the 2003–04 season.

Taylor was replaced as Birmingham's first choice goalkeeper in February 2007 by Colin Doyle, but regained his place after the first three matches of the 2007–08 Premier League season. He was again replaced as the first choice keeper in the 2009–10 Premier League season by loan signing Joe Hart, playing only the two fixtures against Hart's parent club, Manchester City. He spent the rest of the season on the bench.

In May 2010, Taylor signed a new one-year deal with Birmingham just after they had signed new keeper Ben Foster from Manchester United. He played only four matches in 2010–11, all in cup competitions, and was on the bench as Birmingham won the 2011 Football League Cup Final. He was not offered a new contract at the end of the season.

Final playing years After training with the club for two weeks in November 2011, and saving a penalty in a friendly against a Chelsea XI, Taylor signed a short-term contract, until January 2012, with Championship club Leeds United. Taylor took his place on the bench behind loan goalkeeper Alex McCarthy two days later against Barnsley. His contract was extended until the end of the season, to act as backup for Andy Lonergan,

But in March, having made no appearances for Leeds and with new manager Neil Warnock preferring not to name a goalkeeper among the substitutes, Taylor agreed to move to fellow Championship club Millwall on loan for the remainder of the season. After a string of clean sheets, Taylor was nominated for the Championship player of the month award for April. After his six-month deal came to an end, Taylor was told he would be released by Leeds at the expiry of his contract. In May 2012, Taylor agreed a 12-month contract with Millwall, staying with them for one season before retiring.

International career Taylor was born in Germany to an English father and a German mother. As a British citizen who was born abroad, FIFA eligibility rules at the time of Taylor's first international selection entitled him to represent any of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom at international level. He opted for Northern Ireland, despite having no familial connection to that country.

Taylor made his debut for the Northern Ireland U21 team in April 1998 at the age of 27, as an over-age player in a 2-1 friendly victory over Switzerland. He became a regular in the Northern Ireland national team, and played 88 matches, including the famous 1–0 victory over England in September 2005.

Taylor was replaced by Lee Camp as first choice goalkeeper, but was recalled to the Northern Ireland squad in August 2011 despite not being registered with a club since leaving Birmingham City. He made his 88th appearance for Northern Ireland on 11 October 2011, captaining his country in a 3–0 defeat away to Italy in a Euro 2012 qualifier. While working as the national goalkeeping coach, the 43-year-old Taylor made an emergency return to the squad in June 2015 as a back-up goalkeeper, following an injury to Roy Carroll the day before a Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania.

Coaching career In July 2013, Taylorwho had studied UEFA B Licence and UEFA A Licence, Part 1was hired as goalkeeping coach for the Northern Ireland national team.

On 8 March 2019, he agreed a short-term deal to become the goalkeeping coach at Bradford City until the end of the 2018–19 season. In June 2019 he left Bradford to take up a similar role at Walsall, and in July 2022, returned to Birmingham City as part of newly appointed head coach John Eustace's backroom staff.

Career statistics

Honours Farnborough Town

Birmingham City

Individual 1998–99 Football League Second Division PFA Team of the Year 2000–01 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year