Taylor, Tony

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Personal

Fullname: Anthony Taylor
aka:Tony Taylor
Born: 6th September, 1946
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 1964
Left: August 1967
Position: Outside Left then Left Back

Biog

(The following has been written in conjunction with Tony Taylor)

Tony Taylor was first signed by Kilmarnock as 16 year old apprentice. Kilmarnock kept him for 2 seasons then decided to release him. He had already been spotted by the Celtic scouting network and when news of his release was heard Celtic stepped in and signed him at the start of the 1964-65 season.

He played almost always as an outside left whilst at Celtic but moved to set up a good striking partnership with Jimmy Quinn in the 1966/67 season scoring 20+ goals. Although he came very close to making a first team start he did not make a full representative appearance for the club despite numerous outings with the Reserves and scoring and making good goals. He did play in the both the Open Public trials of 1964-65 season alongside Johnny Divers, Davie Cattanach and Jim Brogan, where he must have faced Jimmy Johnstone. He also played in the last Public Open Trial at Celtic Park in 1966-67, the games being abandoned thereafter as having served their purpose. This was at a time when there was a good amount of competition for the outside left position with Bertie Auld, John Hughes and Bobby Lennox all accustomed to playing there. When Morton (then coached and trained by ex-Celt Eric Smith and captained by Jim Kennedy) made an offer to Celtic in August 1967 not long after the start of the season, the chances of first team football saw him move on to the Greenock club. Tony had a good career at Morton making 22 starting appearances for them when Morton were an excellent go ahead team.

He moved on to Crystal Palace for the 1968-69 season and stayed with Palace for six seasons winning Player of the Year 1973/74 season. During that time he gradually converted from a left winger to a left back and was also capable of playing in left side midfield. He helped Palace gain top league football for the first time in their history.

He left Crystal Palace at the end of 1974 and went on to see out the rest of his professional playing days with Southend United, Hamilton on Loan, Swindon Town, Bristol Rovers, Portsmouth, Kilmarnock, Albion Rovers and Northampton Town.

His first move into management and coaching proved short-lived and he soon resigned as player manager of Athlone Town.

In 1980 he emigrated to Canada and had a short period playing for Panhellenic in the semi-pro league in the Toronto area. Having attained his FA Coaching Badge Tony moved into coaching and was appointed Ontario Provincial Coach 1980-84. After doing very well at the provincial level Tony was promoted to the Canadian National U20 team qualifying for the 1985 and 1987 U20 World Finals. He also served as the Canada (senior) national team manager during an unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals. He also coached Toronto Blizzards in 1989/90 and arranged Lex Baillie’s loan to them in 1990.

Tony returned to UK, with spells as Director of Youth at Birmingham City then a return to Celtic as reserve coach 1993/94 season. Due to all the uncertainty surrounding Celtic at that time Tony returned to Canada and coached the Canadian U17 team, qualifying for the U17 world finals in 1995.

In 1997 Tony again returned to UK, first as 1st team coach at Bristol City, gaining promotion to the championship, then to Livingston in 1998 as Head of Youth with the task of rebuilding their youth program under the stewardship of Dominic Keane and Davy Hay. At Livingston Tony gave present Celtic youth coach John McLaughlin his first coaching appointment.

In 2001 – due to a family matter – Tony returned to Canada where he was appointed Technical Director of Burlington Youth soccer Club. In 2007 was given the opportunity to be part of the Celtic Academy under Tommy Burns. Sadly when Tommy passed away Tony decided Canada and family were now his priority.

Tony Taylor is still with Burlington Youth Soccer Club in Burlington, Ontario as a Technical Staff Member. He is a highly respected Youth team coach with a keen eye for a player and the professional outlook which has made him friends throughout the sport world-wide.

Playing Career (First Team)

Honours with Celtic

1964/64 Reserve appearances ? Goals ? no League/Cup honours
1965/66 Reserve appearances? Won Reserve League and Reserve Cup Scored 11goals
1966/67 Reserve appearances? Goals 20+ League/Cup Honours?

Pictures

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