IN A meeting room on the first floor of an Albanian hotel, 16 young English footballers are shouting and hugging as if they haven’t seen each other for five years.
Before that they were greeting each other with disdain. It is all part of England C manager Paul Fairclough‘s way of showing his players how they can control their emotions on the pitch.
Forest Green Rovers striker Matty Taylor has only had good emotions pumping through his body in the opening months of this season.
The 22-year-old scored his seventh of the season in their 4-1 FA Cup replay at Dartford on Tuesday, a win that sets up the visit of League Two Port Vale in the first round.
It continues a goal-filled start that saw his first call-up to the England C team for game against Albania Under-21s that was frustratingly cancelled after a torrential downpour.
But the whole experience, like the meeting just before the team departed for the stadium, left a positive impression on the former North Leigh hitman.
“Paul Fairclough was teaching us to stay focused and composed when something bad happens on the pitch or even if you do something good,”? says Taylor, one of a quartet of Forest Green players in the England squad along with Eddie Oshodi, Jamie Turley and Kieron Forbes.
“I’ve not really done anything like that before. I’m not shy so I get stuck in and it is good for team morale.
“I loved the whole trip. Training was good, the whole experience was, it was just frustrating not to play.
“I’ve got to keep playing well for my club to make sure I get picked again. Whether I do or not is down to me.”
Taylor is showing he has got what it takes at Blue Square Bet Premier level following his two gluttonous seasons in front of goal at Southern League South & West side North Leigh.
More than 80 goals during his time with the Step 4 outfit saw a scramble for his signature, but Rovers boss Dave Hockaday won the day to take Taylor back to full-time football.
“I came through the youth system at Oxford United, made about ten appearances but then there was a change of manager,”? says Taylor, who scored ten goals for Rovers last year. “Chris Wilder came in and obviously new managers bring different ideas.
“I knew the North Leigh manager, Mark Gee, and he was really happy to sign me because he knew I could be a goalscorer.
“He told me, ‘Come here and you will play week in, week out’. That is what I needed, that reassurance. I felt comfortable playing under him. He was a great manager for me.
Expectations
“I enjoyed it and I really found my feet there. I got my confidence back and that means you’re back to the player you should be.
“Because it does affect you when you are released by a club. You think, ‘Why? Am I not good enough?’ But now I’ve convinced myself and maybe others that I am.”
Working as a teaching assistant at the Marlborough School in Woodstock also afforded Taylor the chance to see life outside of football.
“In fairness I did actually enjoy working,” he says. “Some people go to work and can’t wait until the end of the day when they can go home. But I wasn’t like that, I enjoyed it, it was good fun and one day I will look into teaching PE.
“It gives you an understanding of what else is about, because unless you earn enough money from a short football career you are going to need a job when you finish.
“In my first season at North Leigh I thought I’d just give it a go and try to get back to professional football as soon as possible.
“After that season I had a few offers from local teams but no one who was professional, so I thought I’d give it another year. I had another good season and I thought if it didn’t happen then I would just play part-time. Thankfully I had a few offers.”
Competition at The New Lawn is certainly stiff among the strikers. Taylor, Reece Styche and James Norwood were joined by Conference winner Magno Vieira, Ben Wright, Phil Marsh and Omar Koroma in the summer.
“We’ve got seven strikers and when they were all coming in the summer you’re thinking ‘I’m going to have to work really hard to get in the team’.
“But that’s the least you can do; get your head down, be confident and back your own ability which I’ve done.
“I’ve got myself in the team, had a run and got a few goals. There are going to be times when we are rotated because obviously everyone is going to play a part this season. But I don’t care as long as we are in the play-offs.”?
Promotion is now the target for a club that had its sights changed from BSBP survival to the Football League since the arrival of multi-millionaire eco-energy entrepreneur Dale Vince.
His investment in the squad has raised expectations, and pressure?
“A little bit, yeah,”? Taylor says. “I think the fans realise how good the squad we’ve got is in comparison to other seasons when they’ve not done so well. We just need to keep getting the wins on the board.
“You can tell something good is happening there and a lot of players would sign there now. Some people probably still see us as a small club. Hopefully we can change those views.”
