Plenty to smile about: Lyle Taylor has scored 24 goals for Charlton this seasonAKIRA SUEMORI
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Having
once worked as a body double in television advertisements featuring
some of the biggest stars in Europe such as Ronaldinho and Didier
Drogba, the real Lyle Taylor is now standing up at Charlton Athletic and
he will demand notice when he faces Doncaster Rovers in the League One
playoff semi-final today.
Twenty-one goals and nine assists in
League One this season says plenty about Taylor, but there is so much
more to his story. There is also the pink hair that he sometimes sports
in support of breast cancer research, his captaincy and the championing
of the tiny island of Montserrat in the Caribbean and, most striking of
all, the radical stand which Taylor has taken against racism this
season, with the support of the southeast London club.
In
the spirit of Danny Rose, Taylor doesn’t hold back when it comes to
this incendiary topic and the way he tells it, the treatment he has
received gets to the heart of what brought him to Charlton in the first
place.
After a successful few seasons at Wimbledon, during which
he broke several goal-scoring records, it looked like Sunderland had won
the battle for his services last summer. When Taylor instead opted for a
move across London close to where he was raised in Greenwich, he was
accused of taking the easy option of returning to his childhood home
where he still has family and friends. Not so, insists Taylor,
confirming that he would have got more money had he gone to Sunderland.
“The
Sunderland manager [Jack Ross] was brilliant, but the board were trying
to take the p***. I as a man of principle said you are not going to
take the mick out of me. I can’t go into specifics because I don’t think
that would be right, but there was a conversation whereby we were
asking for a small bonus, and they turned round and said, ‘If he doesn’t
achieve that bonus is he going to pay money for not achieving that
bonus?’”
So
why Charlton, a club that has been beset by a long-time dispute between
its supporters and the owners, but has been steered nonetheless for a
second time by Lee Bowyer into the playoffs?
“I knew that people
would take notice of the person that I am rather than everybody sitting
there believing things that had been bandied around about me, because
there is no way you can play for Lee Bowyer and toss training off. There
is no way you can play for Lee Bowyer and have a bad attitude. Being
the man that he is, I knew exactly what would happen and I have gone
over and above what was expected.”
In short, Taylor says that he
got a bad name when he wasn’t given a proper chance at a previous club,
which he names as Sheffield United, where he was on the books at Bramall
Lane from July 2013 until June 2014.
“I have had a really hard
time. I have dealt with racism in the camp, I have dealt with all sorts.
Stuff that people wouldn’t even realise. I ended up getting alopecia
[hair loss] through stress because of things that were going on at the
clubs I was playing for.
“There was things said that were not
right and there was nowhere you could turn to shine a light on those
things. Especially when you are a player who has been brought in and is
doing absolutely nothing. Not playing or playing five minutes here, 10
minutes there. You had no backing to say anything.”
Sheffield United wouldn’t comment on Friday.
Taylor
also struggled subsequently to break through at Scunthorpe, but once he
started playing regular football, as he did when he moved to Wimbledon,
he started scoring goals regularly and he found his voice as well this
season at Charlton, knowing that people would now listen to him.
He
has championed many causes, most notably the fight against breast
cancer, which the club has also embraced. Taylor has also taken a very
public stand when he was subjected to racist abuse on his return to
Wimbledon and at Bradford.
“We have shone a light on what’s
happening and some people have decided that they wanted their five
minutes in the spotlight by racially abusing footballers, which is
completely unacceptable and there still needs to be something done about
it.”
On Wednesday morning, Bradford police had been on to the
club about abuse he suffered online last month. Also in the in-tray was
Taylor’s player of the season award to be presented to him by the club.
It
is all a far cry from his anonymous days when he went for a trial at
Staines Town in west London as a 16-year-old calling himself a striker
when he had been a defender all his life.
Or the carefree months
that he spent travelling around Europe working as a model in Nike ads,
when it appeared that his own footballing career was going nowhere. At
the age of 29, he is finally playing for big stakes and all that he asks
for and expect sin return is a fair hand.
“The Sunderland manager [Jack Ross] was brilliant, but the board were trying to take the p***. I as a man of principle said you are not going to take the mick out of me. I can’t go into specifics because I don’t think that would be right, but there was a conversation whereby we were asking for a small bonus, and they turned round and said, ‘If he doesn’t achieve that bonus is he going to pay money for not achieving that bonus?’”
Decent strikers are like gold dust. Managers such as Bowyer, Powell and Curbs (and those at competitor clubs) understand that. Eejits like Roland and Driesen don't.
Kermorgant all over. The likes of Taylor come around very rarely. They should give him a 3 year deal and say; become a real legend at this club. But as we know, the owner doesn’t work like that.
I think Taylor will sign a new deal. He loves it here, wants to be in London, is loved by the fans. I know it would be unusual, but just because RD might accept an offer for him doesn't mean he has to go. Fingers crossed.
If there is one thing I have come to accept its that no matter how much someone might enjoy being at a club it's not enough for them not to move. If he gets offered a very attractive pay day at a team who will be a favourite for promotion his head may well be turned.
You then have to factor in our complete tit of an owner who'd be happy to sell him for £500k and think he's got a good deal.
I think we are all jumping the gun on RD here... (Wait, I know)
For a start, I still hate him and do not want to stick up for him at all.
However, we can not pin the sale of Karlen on RD. He was a young striker in league 1 with is stock high at the time and a bid came in from a Prem team, we were not keeping Karlen the moment that bid came in as Karlen wanted to go and you can not blame the kid. It was a prem team, prem wage and considering the year before we were at Crawley, it was going to happen. The blame can not solely lay with RD on this one. If it was another club in our division I am sure the outcome would have been the same. Now, pushing for a higher fee yes of course that was possible but that's a whole different thing. My point here is more RD, like many owners have their hands tie when prem teams come in for league 1 players.
Look what happened with Bauer, we rejected the deal and kept him and well, worked out alright didn't it?
Who's to say this wouldn't happen with Taylor? We might get a bid and reject it and if the player is happy to stay, he will. I don't think it's as set in stone that if a bid comes in they are gone, Bauer is a example that RD might have half a brain cell and say no, we are keeping him.
If there is one thing I have come to accept its that no matter how much someone might enjoy being at a club it's not enough for them not to move. If he gets offered a very attractive pay day at a team who will be a favourite for promotion his head may well be turned.
You then have to factor in our complete tit of an owner who'd be happy to sell him for £500k and think he's got a good deal.
Agreed. And from recent news about his decision of signing for us instead of Sunderland, I got the impression that it was not about location as originally reported, but that he didn't like what the people at Sunderland said/did about their offer and other related things.
If he gets a big offer and has a satisfying talk with a certain club, it's not impossible that he leaves for them.....
Reading Airman's VotV article and posts on other threads, I feel it'll be very hard for us to compete with other Championship clubs financially. If RD doesn't sell soon, we'll have to be prepared for a disappointing summer. Bowyer is no doubt a big attracting factor but money talks.... Bowyer and Gallen did an incredible job last season but it is going to be a lot harder in the Championship.😥
You’ve got to wonder at what point in his life he’s gonna regret picking us over Sunderland.....I’m thinking around about May next year......
Hope I’m wrong mind
@Fumbluff please make your prediction about one of this year’s new signings (assuming there are any, of course).
Trouble is, everybody in football knows what Charlton are about with this owner. Make an offer for a player and the old scrote will trouser the cash so fast it'll make your head spin.
Comments
Really hope he does a Mendonca in these play off games.
Charlton give Taylor a voice
Striker revels in chance to express himself in League One playoff semi-final against Doncaster today
May 12 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Having once worked as a body double in television advertisements featuring some of the biggest stars in Europe such as Ronaldinho and Didier Drogba, the real Lyle Taylor is now standing up at Charlton Athletic and he will demand notice when he faces Doncaster Rovers in the League One playoff semi-final today.
Twenty-one goals and nine assists in League One this season says plenty about Taylor, but there is so much more to his story. There is also the pink hair that he sometimes sports in support of breast cancer research, his captaincy and the championing of the tiny island of Montserrat in the Caribbean and, most striking of all, the radical stand which Taylor has taken against racism this season, with the support of the southeast London club.
In the spirit of Danny Rose, Taylor doesn’t hold back when it comes to this incendiary topic and the way he tells it, the treatment he has received gets to the heart of what brought him to Charlton in the first place.
After a successful few seasons at Wimbledon, during which he broke several goal-scoring records, it looked like Sunderland had won the battle for his services last summer. When Taylor instead opted for a move across London close to where he was raised in Greenwich, he was accused of taking the easy option of returning to his childhood home where he still has family and friends. Not so, insists Taylor, confirming that he would have got more money had he gone to Sunderland.
“The Sunderland manager [Jack Ross] was brilliant, but the board were trying to take the p***. I as a man of principle said you are not going to take the mick out of me. I can’t go into specifics because I don’t think that would be right, but there was a conversation whereby we were asking for a small bonus, and they turned round and said, ‘If he doesn’t achieve that bonus is he going to pay money for not achieving that bonus?’”
So why Charlton, a club that has been beset by a long-time dispute between its supporters and the owners, but has been steered nonetheless for a second time by Lee Bowyer into the playoffs?
“I knew that people would take notice of the person that I am rather than everybody sitting there believing things that had been bandied around about me, because there is no way you can play for Lee Bowyer and toss training off. There is no way you can play for Lee Bowyer and have a bad attitude. Being the man that he is, I knew exactly what would happen and I have gone over and above what was expected.”
In short, Taylor says that he got a bad name when he wasn’t given a proper chance at a previous club, which he names as Sheffield United, where he was on the books at Bramall Lane from July 2013 until June 2014.
“I have had a really hard time. I have dealt with racism in the camp, I have dealt with all sorts. Stuff that people wouldn’t even realise. I ended up getting alopecia [hair loss] through stress because of things that were going on at the clubs I was playing for.
“There was things said that were not right and there was nowhere you could turn to shine a light on those things. Especially when you are a player who has been brought in and is doing absolutely nothing. Not playing or playing five minutes here, 10 minutes there. You had no backing to say anything.”
Sheffield United wouldn’t comment on Friday.
Taylor also struggled subsequently to break through at Scunthorpe, but once he started playing regular football, as he did when he moved to Wimbledon, he started scoring goals regularly and he found his voice as well this season at Charlton, knowing that people would now listen to him.
He has championed many causes, most notably the fight against breast cancer, which the club has also embraced. Taylor has also taken a very public stand when he was subjected to racist abuse on his return to Wimbledon and at Bradford.
“We have shone a light on what’s happening and some people have decided that they wanted their five minutes in the spotlight by racially abusing footballers, which is completely unacceptable and there still needs to be something done about it.”
On Wednesday morning, Bradford police had been on to the club about abuse he suffered online last month. Also in the in-tray was Taylor’s player of the season award to be presented to him by the club.
It is all a far cry from his anonymous days when he went for a trial at Staines Town in west London as a 16-year-old calling himself a striker when he had been a defender all his life.
Or the carefree months that he spent travelling around Europe working as a model in Nike ads, when it appeared that his own footballing career was going nowhere. At the age of 29, he is finally playing for big stakes and all that he asks for and expect sin return is a fair hand.
Sunderland fans will love to hear about that ! !
Just show em on the pitch today, lovely Lyle.
really hope we can keep LT
Kermorgant all over.
The likes of Taylor come around very rarely. They should give him a 3 year deal and say; become a real legend at this club.
But as we know, the owner doesn’t work like that.
I know it would be unusual, but just because RD might accept an offer for him doesn't mean he has to go.
Fingers crossed.
If he leaves it'll be a very, very bad one.
You then have to factor in our complete tit of an owner who'd be happy to sell him for £500k and think he's got a good deal.
Bowyer: "I took him aside and did doggies with him."
You couldn't blame Taylor if he wants to leave.
If he gets a big offer and has a satisfying talk with a certain club, it's not impossible that he leaves for them.....
Reading Airman's VotV article and posts on other threads, I feel it'll be very hard for us to compete with other Championship clubs financially. If RD doesn't sell soon, we'll have to be prepared for a disappointing summer. Bowyer is no doubt a big attracting factor but money talks.... Bowyer and Gallen did an incredible job last season but it is going to be a lot harder in the Championship.😥