Daryl Shea Taylor (born 14 November 1984) is an English former 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 played as a winger who is now a fitness coach at club

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

. A former

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

trainee, he made his senior debut with

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in August 2004. He scored in each of his first three appearances. However, he suffered a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...

injury on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

towards the end of the 2004–05 season. He spent seven months in recovery and rejoined Hereford United on loan in January 2006 but was released by Walsall following the club's

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

at the end of the 2005–06 season. He signed with

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. ...

and was loaned out to Bury, before dropping out of the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. He spent the 2006–07 season with Tamworth in the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

and was then with

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

for the following campaign. He spent the remainder of his career with

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

Halesowen Town Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Grove Recreation Ground. History The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but rec ...

Hinckley United Hinckley United Football Club was an English football club, from Hinckley, Leicestershire, which last played in the Southern Football League Premier Division during the 2013–14 season. They were formed in 1997 as the result of a merger between ...

Chippenham Town Chippenham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. They are currently members of and play their games at Hardenhuish Park. History The club states it was established in 1873,

and Sutton Coldfield Town. He later became a fitness

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

and Shrewsbury Town.

Playing career

Walsall

Taylor made his first-team debut for

on 7 August 2004, scoring a goal in a 3–2 win over

at the

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, currently known as the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the area of Bescot, Walsall, West Midlands, England, and is the current home ground of Walsall Football Club and Aston Vill ...

. He started the next game three days later and scored the opening goal as the "Saddlers" recorded a 2–2 draw at

. He also scored in his third appearance, a 5–3 defeat at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

. Despite this start, he never scored again in the

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Paul Merson Paul Charles Merson (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, Merson found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker late ...

gave him a one-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

extension in September 2004. Taylor joined

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

club

on a one-month

on 24 March 2005, which was later extended into a three-month loan. However, his loan spell at

Edgar Street Edgar Street, currently known as MandM Edgar Street Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was w ...

was curtailed due to a

injury. The knee injury required two operations and left him sidelined for seven months. He rejoined Hereford United on loan on 12 January 2006. He featured 11 times for

Graham Turner Graham John Turner (born 5 October 1947) is an English former footballer who became a manager. His son Mark was also a professional footballer. He is fourth behind only Alex Ferguson, Neil Warnock and Arsène Wenger in terms of most games man ...

's "Bulls", before returning to end the season with Walsall. He played 13 games for Walsall in the 2005–06 season, who were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

out of

. He was released by manager

Richard Money Richard Money (born 13 October 1955) is an English former footballer and manager who was most recently manager of National League club Hartlepool United. Before this, he managed Cambridge United, overseeing the side's return to the Football Leag ...

in May 2006.

Later career

Taylor joined Bournemouth on a month-to-month deal on 6 June 2006. Assistant manager Richard O'Kelly had previously tried to sign Taylor whilst he was

ing at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. This time he succeeded in bringing in Taylor, who turned down an opportunity in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and offers from Conference and League Two clubs. He was loaned out to Bury and had a goal ruled out for offside on his debut in a 1–0 defeat to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gi ...

on 9 September 2006. He started two games and made three substitute appearances for the "Shakers", but manager

Chris Casper Christopher Martin Casper (born 28 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player who is the academy manager at side Burnley. As a player he was a defender who played in the Premier League for Manchester United and in the Footba ...

decided not to extend his loan deal. Taylor signed with Conference side Tamworth after an unsuccessful trial with

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

in October 2006. He scored four goals in 23 league games for Tamworth in the 2006–07 season. On 7 June 2007, it was reported that Taylor had moved on from the "Lambs" and joined

, with manager

Chris Wilder Christopher John Wilder (born 23 September 1967) is an English professional football manager who formerly played as a right-back. He is the manager of club Sheffield United. Wilder's extensive professional playing career saw spells at Sheff ...

looking to add pace to his team. However, Tamworth confirmed that Taylor had in fact not signed for Halifax Town, who had been misinformed by an agent. However, the

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

would eventually go through and Taylor spent the 2007–08 season at

The Shay The Shay is a multi-purpose sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is home to the FC Halifax Town association football club and the Halifax Panthers rugby league team. The stadium is owned by the Calderdale Metropolitan Bo ...

, scoring one goal in 23 games for the "Shaymen". He played nine games for Southern League Premier Division club

, but also received "seven-day approaches" from

manager Dean Thomas and

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

in September 2008. Two months later he tore his hamstring playing in the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

for Hinckley United and was ruled out of action for three months. He returned to Halesowen Town in March 2009, with manager Morell Maison stating that "Daryl has fallen out of the pro game and that left him disillusioned but he is still only 23". He scored one goal in ten games for the "Yeltz" during the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. He made his debut for

in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

on 16 October 2010.

Style of play

Taylor was a pacey right-sided winger who struggled to fully recover from a knee injury sustained early in his career.

Coaching career

Taylor was promoted to assistant manager at Sutton Coldfield Town by manager Neil Tooth following Ross Thorpe's departure in September 2013. He joined

as the club's new strength and conditioning coach in 2015, where he remained until a backroom reshuffle in September 2019. He joined Port Vale as a sports science and fitness coach in March 2021. He left the club following a backroom restructure under new manager

Darren Moore Darren Mark Moore (born 22 April 1974) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the manager of club Port Vale. Moore was born in Birmingham, though represented Jamaica at international level. He ...

in May 2024. In July 2024, he was appointed as the fitness coach at

Personal life

His younger brother,

Corey Blackett-Taylor Corey Josiah Paul Blackett-Taylor (born 23 September 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for club Derby County. Blackett-Taylor started his career at Aston Villa where he graduated into the first team making his debut in Mar ...

, turned professional at Aston Villa in 2016.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Daryl 1984 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Black British sportsmen Men's association football wingers Aston Villa F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Bury F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Halesowen Town F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Chippenham Town F.C. players Sutton Coldfield Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players English football coaches Mansfield Town F.C. non-playing staff Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Shrewsbury Town F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen