Exclusive interview with Scott Taylor
Thursday 25th February, 2010
By Richard Ault

Last week I was lucky enough to speak to one of the heroes of that run to Wembley, Scott Taylor.  Now back at his first club Staines Town, Scott spoke in length about those great cup games, as well as his anger at how his departure from Tranmere was reported and his true feelings for the club.

So, thanks for taking the time to chat to me Scott.  To start off then, you’re now back at Staines?

Yeah, last December I went back there.

Are you enjoying it?

Yeah I am.  It’s obviously where it all started for me.  I left there when I was 18 or 19 and got signed to go to Millwall but have always kept in contact with the Chairman down there.  He has got his own electrical company and said “when you have had enough of football and you think the time is right for yourself, I’d love you to come back down and play for Staines and finish up where it all started, and I’ll give you an electrician apprenticeship as well.”

So that’s what I’m doing now.  Working every day and going to college once a week as part of a three year course.  Football comes to an end sooner or later and you’ve got to have something else to do.  Unless you’re one of the big boys earning £15-20k per week, you’ve got to work after football and I think this is going to be the right choice for me.

Are you from that area originally?

Yeah I am, I’m back home now.  This where I was brought up.  The kids are settled in school and stuff so it’s nice, my mums is around the corner as well!  Always good for babysitting! *laughs*

You mention Millwall there - you played against them this season didn’t you in the FA Cup?

We did, and we managed to take them back to a replay as well.  It was nice because I think that was the first time in my fourteen year career I have been back to Millwall to play, so that’s unbelievable.  Out of all those years and all the games I’ve had, I’d never been back there since I’d left, so it was nice.  I’ve still got friends there and around that area, so it was a nice day all-in-all.

It’s funny how football always throws up mad things like that isn’t it?

It’s frightening, weird!  It’s a small world, football.

It’s all connected.

Looking at the cup run then, which is already ten years ago, what do you remember of the run up to the final?

It was so long ago now.  We had beaten so many Premiership sides leading up to it, we just had one of them teams that was just so hard to play against.  Fortunately, most of our games were at home as well, and it became a bit of a fortress down at Prenton Park.  Teams didn’t like going there, especially the Premiership boys, we were a hard, hard team to play against.  We had a lot a lot of fit lads and the team shape was good, it was a fantastic run. 

I will never forget the semi-final against Bolton.  We got one and then I won a penalty which Mahon scored, and then I think we got a free-kick which I took quickly and gave to Ned who put it in.  I’m sure there was about 10 or 15 minutes to go, and I remember I was out on the pitch and I started to get all emotional, thinking “my god, I’m going to be playing down at Wembley”.

That’s probably the highlight and the memory I will take before going to Wembley.  Having placed that ball down and taken the quick free-kick to Ned and he scored…I remember on the pitch, I was halfway to getting emotional.  My boyhood dream was about to come true.

What was it like to be involved with a smaller club like Tranmere that was doing that, and achieving what they did?

In fairness, Tranmere aren’t that small of a club.  Okay, alongside Liverpool and Everton they may be, but within their own rights they are a good size.  But to do all that with a club like Tranmere, or for one of the ones lower down to have that kind of run, and to get the status, get recognised…it was just fantastic.  The whole place was buzzing; the football club, the staff behind the scenes, the fans. 

It lifted the whole area for that year, it was a fantastic atmosphere.  And do you know, they deserved it the club.  They’re a great little club, I look for their results all the time.

Footy Lge…

I should still be playing in the league.  Down there the money is starting to go a little bit.  I can earn more money going 50/50 and getting a trade behind me as well.  It is to do with finance now.  You’ve got to look after your family and do what is right for them.

It’s a shame I’m not still nearby as I may still be playing – there are so many clubs up in the north-west.  There are thousands of them within 50 miles away, whereas down here it’s a bit more scarce.

Going back to the cup runs…Prenton Park played such a big part, as you mentioned earlier.  What was it like on those big nights, often under the floodlights, the stands packed out?  Was it a massive spur for the players?

Oh of course.  They often say that if the fans get behind the players it’s like a twelfth player, but it really was.  It was packed to the rim.  Most of the games were night games – I love playing at night under the floodlights, I’m a bit of a night person anyway. 

Pulling up to the ground on those nights, the fans already waiting outside.  When you get in the changing rooms you can hear the crowd making a noise.  Before you come out of the tunnel it’s just…memories, you can’t explain it to people.  I don’t think anyone could appreciate how much of a buzz it was to run out of the tunnel on nights like that.  It was quality, absolutely quality.

It just made you hungry for more as well I suppose?

Absolutely, and we grew in confidence too.  We beat one, we beat two and you think; “do you know what?  We’re getting close here”.  All the draws were always at home as well and it became a fortress.  Teams were coming down thinking “they’ve done them, and they’ve done them”.  They didn’t like it, they really didn’t like it.

As I say, we had a good squad of players there, and they were fit.  I must admit, Tranmere’s pre-season was the hardest I’ve ever, ever done.  I came out of there so fit it was frightening.

Was that down to Les or Aldo?

It was down to Les, who is now manager of course!  He was old school…as I say, the pre-season was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I’ve never done anything like it in my life!  It was tough, but the lads benefited from it because they were fit, we could all get up and down the pitch easily. 

We played a 4-5-1 – when we had the ball me and Parky had to get up the wings to join up with either Wayne Allison or David Kelly.  It was a lot of work for us two on the wings, but we were such a fit team that we could get up and down and had a good shape.

We had a solidness about us and were hard to beat.

Because we had such success in the cups, and it wasn’t just the league cup, the ‘million dollar question’ is why couldn’t we do it in the league?

It’s like here at Staines recently.  We were winning games and getting towards the play-offs, but that first FA Cup tie against Shrewsbury…we beat them, then played Millwall, and had the replay with them too.  Between the Shrewsbury game and the Millwall replay, our league form just dipped, it just went, and it’s because the players have these big cup games in the back of their minds.

It’s really hard to block it out.  I think the same happened at Tranmere.  We had such good cup runs and big games coming up all the time, at the back of your mind you are thinking “I don’t want to get injured, or go into 50/50’s just in case”.  Don’t get me wrong, you don’t go into games thinking that, but subconsciously it is in the back of your mind. 

Same with bookings – if I get a fifth one, like Clint Hill was always getting booked wasn’t he bless him, but he might be thinking in the back of his mind; “if I go and make that challenge now and get my fifth yellow, I may not be playing in that game”, so I think, without realising, these things must play a part subconsciously. 

As it just showed with Staines as well, it’s there at the back of your mind for some reason and it’s hard to block it out.  I think that was the problem – we had so many cup runs that the league became a side issue.

After the Millwall game with Staines, we just concentrated on the league, and we’ve picked back up again.  But at Tranmere, our cup runs took us right up to February-March time and you’ve got to try and pick yourselves up at that time with only a couple of months of the season left.  It was hard because you were on a bit of a downer by that point as well for going out.

Going back to the cup final, what was the lead up to that like, and the environment surrounding you at the time?

Quality.

We went down three or four days before I think and stayed in a top notch hotel which was great.  We had a separate room for like videos, table tennis, etc.  The training was good as well.  You just felt like a massive, massive star.  You had this huge game coming up against Leicester which was going to have 70,000 people there, and you just couldn’t wait.  You wanted the day to come so quick.  I remember people saying to me that when the day comes, just take it all in because it will go so fast.

So from the hotel to the stadium, we didn’t want it to go too quick.  We wanted to take it all in, the fans especially.  It was a good 3-4 days in the hotel with the lads.  We had table tennis competitions and stuff, but just couldn’t wait for the game really.

Trying to get to sleep at night was hard.  The night before the game, I was tossing and turning for a good hour or so before I got off to sleep because you were just thinking about the match.

I remember going to the ground and it was just a sea of fans. The coach was trying to get in the ground and it was going so slow because of the fans.  You just looked out and saw all the Tranmere fans, the Tranmere flags – you just wanted the coach to go slower and slower.  Obviously it had a time schedule though, and that was it.  We got in, changed, and went out.

Did you have the customary pre-match walkabout on the pitch beforehand?

Do you know what, it’s been so long I couldn’t say for sure. 

I think we did…yes, yes we did. 

We had a little walkabout and I was trying to have a look up and see where the tickets were!  Then we came back in and got changed.

Coming out of the tunnel was amazing.  The Tranmere fans were the opposite end of the tunnel, which was great for us.  Coming out, we couldn’t see behind us obviously, so looking in front the entire semi-circle we could see, from the halfway line on one side around to the other, it was just a sea of Tranmere fans and flags.  With the fireworks going off as well…it was just unbelievable.

I was only speaking to my cousin yesterday about it to be fair.  I still get goosebumps, I can still feel it like it was yesterday.  When I talk about it I still get goosebumps.  Amazing.

You’ll keep those memories for the rest of your life as well.

Yeah, and obviously I have the DVD as well.  My little boy watches it; he’s seen it a few times and loves it!

Can you remember much about Aldo’s team talk before the game? 

I think he was telling us how well we’d done to get there, but it’s just another game as well.  Don’t go out there and get overawed, just keep playing how you’ve been playing up to the final and have some fun.  Relax and enjoy the occasion, that kind of thing.

Once the fanfare had finished and it was down to business, what do you remember about the game itself?

I remember hitting the crossbar at the end!

Kick-off sticks in my mind, and the fact that it was such a massive pitch.  I got the ball a few times, and I remember Mahon put me in a few times.  I had a shot that Tim Flowers saved and it didn’t even go for a corner even though he’d saved it – he’d tipped it over because it was going in.

I remember getting down a few times up the left and then I think they took Frank Sinclair out and put Robbie Savage in there because I was causing a few problems down that side. 

It was just a great, great day.

What was it like when the equaliser went in?

Oh, it was unbelievable.  Unbelievable.

Ned – you’re not supposed to go around the boards – but he just ran off behind the goal, I remember trying to catch him up to celebrate!  It was at the Tranmere end as well, so it couldn’t have gone any better.  It was special.

We were just disappointed with the goals we conceded – they were both carbon copies of each other. 

How clearly do you remember hitting the bar late on?

I think about it nearly every day.  If I speak about it…it’s just so frustrating.

I think it was Dave Kelly who crossed it in and I’ve got in at the far post there.  I think I’ve just got underneath it a little bit and hit the bar.  I could cry to be honest!  It was with about five minutes to go wasn’t it?  It would have made it 2-2, extra-time, and who knows?  We could have won it.

But it wasn’t meant to be, and I still get haunted by it when I talk about it.  It wasn’t nice.

We’ll try and cheer it up a tiny bit then.  Do you ever watch the DVD or anything and look back fondly as the achievement it was, rather than the defeat and the missed chance?

Yeah, I haven’t watched it for a couple of years now, but I’ve got it here.  As I say, my little boy has watched it a couple of times and likes it.  You can’t take that DVD away.  It’s memories, it’s great to look back on.  If my kids have children, I can say ‘Grandad played at Wembley’ and show them.  You just can’t buy those kinds of memories can you?

Presumably, with it being the last League Cup final at the old Wembley, it added something?

That made it even more special, with the old Twin Towers and all that.  The last ever League Cup final there.  It’s great to say I’ve played at the old, old Wembley where all the history was, the 1966 World Cup and the like.  Brilliant.

Just a bit about Aldo if we may, Scott.  So many people in the game said he had quite a unique kind of style to his management, mainly down to the sheer passion he had.  How would you compare him to all the other managers you’ve played under?

All managers are different.  Take Colin Hendry at Blackpool who was quiet and reserved – he is one of the nicest men you will ever meet.  John Aldridge was a smashing fella, I got on well with him and I’ve got a lot of time for him.  His passion and desire he had was immense.  Because of that passion, he could get hot-headed and got so frustrated at times.  He’d throw cups around the dressing room, but it was because of the passion and desire to win he has, that made him the hot head in the changing room.

Other days he’d come in and he’d be a lot calmer and reserved.  He had his own style and his own ways just like most managers.  Steve McMahon was very similar, and perhaps that’s a Liverpool connection because they had a great team and were winners.  They know what it’s like to win, and those sorts of characters – McMahon, Aldridge, Daglish – the passion and desire to win was fantastic.

You left Rovers just after the club were relegated and Dave Watson came in.  Do you regret leaving?

I didn’t want to leave.  I’d been told by some friends up Liverpool way that in the paper after I’d left Lorraine Rogers had said something along the lines of; I’d left because I didn’t want to play Second Division football.  That was utter, utter, nonsense.  It hurt, because I love the club and I had three great years there.

When I was coming out of my contract I wanted to stay and Lorraine offered me another year on similar or a little less money – I can’t quite remember the finer details.  Because I was out of contract my agent had told me that Stockport had come in for me and offered a three year deal on more money.  Again, you’ve got to look at your family; it is such a short career.

I decided it was the right time – they were still in the league above and I think that is what made her put that in the paper.  She couldn’t have said it if I’d joined another club in the same league, but because it was a league above she put that in.  It hurt to be fair, it did hurt.

I wondered if I should go back to the paper and go tit-for-tat and explain, but I thought ‘do you know what, it’s not worth it’.  It was horrible because when I came back to play at Tranmere for Blackpool I got a few boos from a minority of the fans, and I thought ‘if only you knew the whole story’.

I’d like you to put this on the website as well please, so that the fans know the story.

I’ve still got a real fondness for the club.  I’m looking out for Les now bless him and I’m saying to myself ‘go on son, good luck to you’.  The majority of the fans still like me when I come back and have spoken to me outside the ground.  It’s only that minority who read that little snippet that was wrote.

It wasn’t because they got relegated and I didn’t want to play Second Division football, that’s not my character at all, the simple fact was that I was being offered a one year contract at Tranmere and Stockport offered me three years.  It was one of those financial situations that was a bit of a no brainer, do you know what I mean?  It was just unfortunate that Tranmere went down.  If they wouldn’t I probably still would have gone to Stockport for the same reasons – more security.

Football is such a short career, you can do your leg or anything at any time.  If I’d just got a year deal at Tranmere, I could get injured in six months and only have six months left on my contract.  Come June they’d have been in their rights to say, you’ve broke you’re leg, you’re out of contract, and that was that.  You’ve got to think about yourself and your family.

But yes, I’d like to set the record straight on that.  I did love the club and the fans and didn’t want to leave.  What was in the paper was utter rubbish.

To finish up then Scott, what are your plans for the future then?  You mentioned the electrician thing, but are there any plans for football coaching or anything?

Yeah, I’m doing my badges as well.  I’m just in the middle of doing my ‘B License’, so I’ve got all the books signed off and I’m just waiting to be accessed.  I’ll do that in May.  The ‘A License’ I will probably leave until I’m in coaching full-time.

With the electrician work at college, there is so much reading, writing and studying to do, to take on the ‘A-License’ alongside it wouldn’t really work.  So I’ll get the ‘B License out of the way before May, then concentrate on the electrician stuff which is a three year course taking me until I’m 36. 

Then I will look to get back in to football.  I’d like to go back in to it full-time, that would be nice.  But then I may enjoy the electrician stuff so much I stay and be a part-time manager.

Would you like to become a manager then?

Yeah , or coach or assistant manager, maybe something to do with an academy or kids.  I’ll stay in it some way, I’m just not sure in what way.  Who knows what the future holds.  I just want to carry on playing for another three or four years yet as I’m still fit enough, I keep myself in good shape.

I wanted to get a good trade behind me anyway because football is so fickle.  One minute you’re in a  job, next you’re out of it and could sit on your arse for three years and not get another job. 

Next year I’m 35, I wouldn’t mind trying to get into that Masters Football with Tranmere.  I watched it the other day and Tranmere had Stuey Barlow, Georges Santos, Kenny Irons – it was great.

National champions now of course as well!

Are they?!  That’s superb, brilliant.

Beating Bolton in the final as well…

Oh that’s brilliant, how fantastic.  Quality.  I’d love to get in to that with Tranmere!

Do you still keep in touch with many of the lads form your time at Tranmere?

The one person is Graham Allen.  I still speak to him a lot, he’s the God Father to my little girl, we roomed together at Tranmere.  We got on really well and so I speak to him fairly regularly.  I saw Georges Santos about a year or so ago when he was at Farsley Celtic and I played against him, then I saw him on holiday as well in Mallorca!  He just walked past me:

“Hello Georges, what are you doing here?!” I said. *laughs*

I was gutted because I missed John Achterberg’s testimonial last year.  I got invited down to it but I couldn’t get any days off, I just couldn’t get down there.  It was going to be a couple of days and with work and that now, it’s totally different, I couldn’t leave.  I was gutted.  I spoke to John and explained I was gutted not to be able to make it and that, I hope he had a good day.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Scott, all the best for the future.