Kris Taylor

Kris Taylor (born 12 January 1984) is an English football manager and former professional player who is a player-coach at club Chasetown.

He signed his first professional contract on 26 January 2001, but never played for the first team.

Primarily as a left-sided midfielder, he never made the first team at Manchester United and instead went on to spend over three seasons at Walsall after signing in February 2003.

He left Old Trafford in February 2003, having featured three times for the reserves, and joined Walsall.

Walsall having been relegated in 2003–04, Taylor could still not break into the team in League One.

Initially playing for the reserves at Walsall, he went on to score on his first team debut on 31 January 2004 in a 3–2 defeat away at Stoke City.

He went on to make a further ten first-team appearances for the club that season and was retained upon the season's conclusion, signing a one-year deal.

After three cup and three league appearances early in 2004–05 he was put on the transfer list by Paul Merson.

Taylor went out on loan to Burton Albion in December, after he caught the eye of Nigel Clough during a Birmingham Senior Cup match with Burton.

He impressed at Eton Park, making a total of six appearances and scoring four goals.

He scored a memorable goal from 35 yd against Tamworth, and also scored against his future club Hereford in a 3–0 win.

He scored four goals in six games for the Conference club, making a massive impact in his five weeks in Burton.

On his return to the Bescot Stadium an offer from Carlisle United was rejected, and he signed a new two-year contract at the end of the season.

He was a regular in the first team in the first half of the 2005–06 season, before returning to Burton Albion in early January.

This time the loan lasted until the end of the season, though Taylor didn't manage to find the form he reached in his previous loan spell.

He scored four goals in fifteen games before returning to Walsall in time for the last game of the season.

Walsall were relegated once again in 2005–06, leaving them in League Two for 2006–07 season.

He hit forty games for the "Swifts", helping the club achieve promotion as champions.

Taylor was not rewarded for his efforts and was instead told to look for a new club by "Saddlers" boss Richard Money.

He spent two seasons at Hereford United from 2007 to 2009, before moving on to Port Vale for another two season spell.

In July 2007, he signed for Hereford United.

In his first season with the club he was noted for his versatility, playing at left back, left midfield and central midfield.

In similar form to the previous season, Taylor put in a forty-game season to help his club win promotion to League One, this time with a third-place finish.

In contrast to his experience with Walsall, Taylor stayed with the "Bulls" for the 2008–09 campaign.

He played 43 games, though could do little to prevent the "Whites" suffering relegation with a last place finish, 14 points off safety.

Holding out on the club's offer of a new contract, he left the club in the summer of 2009 in search of pastures new.

In July 2009 he went out on trial at League Two side Port Vale, and scored from around 20 yards in a 7–0 win over Rocester in a pre-season friendly.

He impressed manager Micky Adams on his trial and would have been signed to a contract if the cash-strapped club could find the finance; instead Adams offered Taylor non-contract terms, he signed a short-term deal in early August.

This was not enough for Taylor, who resolved to win a long-term contract with the club.

His man of the match performances also persuaded Adams to try to hold on to him.

On 25 August he went a long way towards achieving this goal, scoring a wonder goal in a 2–0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup Second Round.

"'I was happy to see Vale get the win, and the first goal from Kris Taylor was probably the goal of the competition so far.'"

Unable to find the cash to fund Taylor's wages, the club were aided by a £5,000 donation from 'Vale Volunteers', raised specifically by fans to keep Taylor at the club.

Following this he signed with non-League Darlington in June 2011, before his contract was terminated in January 2012.

He signed with AFC Telford United in August 2012, and was loaned out to Hednesford Town in March 2013.

His move to Hednesford was permanent three months later after he helped the club to win the Birmingham Senior Cup and the Northern Premier League play-off final.

He continued playing for the club after beating testicular cancer in 2014, representing Hednesford Town, Rushall Olympic, Stafford Rangers, Sutton Coldfield Town, and Romulus.

He served Walsall Wood as manager from November 2019 to January 2020.

He then returned to playing with Chasetown.

Taylor was born in Cannock and was originally on the books of Wolves; he was signed by Manchester United at the age of 14 for a fee of £200,000.