Andrew Taylor is the first of Uwe Rosler’s summer signings. The experienced left back still had two more years of his contract remaining at Cardiff City. It is understood that Wigan Athletic have not paid an upfront fee for the 27 year old, but Cardiff will receive a payment if Latics get promotion.
Taylor is an experienced Premier League left back or left midfielder, who was also captain of Cardiff when they won the Championship division in the 2012-13 season. A member of the Middlesbrough team that won the FA Youth Cup in 2004, he was to spend seven years at the north east club, making 125 appearances. He represented England at all age levels, under 16 to under 21. During his time at Middlesbrough he also loan spells at Bradford City and Watford.
Malky Mackay signed Taylor for Cardiff in July 2011, knowing him from their time together at Watford. In his first year he made 44 starts for the Welsh club in the Championship and played in the League Cup final when they were beaten by Liverpool on penalties. The following season he made 43 league appearances, more than any other player, in the team that won the Championship.
When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Mackay in January, Taylor fell out of favour. He had made 15 Premier League starts under Mackay, but was to make only three more under the Norwegian.
In order to learn more about Taylor’s time at Cardiff we reached out to Benjamin James of the View from the Ninian fan site.
Her’s over to Benjamin:
Andrew Taylor came to Cardiff as one of Malky’s first signings. He’d taken him on loan at Watford and, was clearly, a favourite of his. In his first season, he helped Cardiff City to a League Cup final and the playoffs and was solid throughout. He isn’t a spectacular left-back – rather, he’s incredibly solid and will always put in a shift.
He’s good in attack and generally solid in defence; my main criticism of him would be his tendency to back off players when they run at him. I understand why, as Taylor isn’t the quickest, but he needs to make a challenge at some point.
I’ll admit surprise when it was announced we sold him; he’s a great player to have in the Championship and is reliable. He’s a good guy and is great off the pitch too; he always has time for fans and has, one more than one occasion, handed over his match worn shirt to a disabled fan at Cardiff City. I would like to have kept him but I understand why he’s moved.
Thanks to JJ of http://threeamigoswigan.com/ for this post.
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