Ex Files - Steve Taylor

So when Steve Taylor came along in the mid 80's, he did things that no Dale player had done in a long, long time. He became the first Dale player since Reg Jenkins to score twenty or more goals in a season, but he didn't just stop there.

In that season 1985-86, everything that Taylor did seemed to come off. He was your classic poacher, scored great penalties and had this wonderful habit of always being in the right place at the right time.

He finished that season with 25 goals in the league and further six in the cups to give him a total of 31 for the season. That was enough to secure him the top scorer in the division that year, winning the prestigious Adidas Golden Boot. You have to go back to 1927-28 to find someone who scored more goals in a season for Dale.

He came to the club as a much travelled striker. Like they all seemed to do in those days, Taylor was a player who seemed to spend every Summer trying to find a new club in Lancashire that he'd never played for. It wouldn't be unfair to say that he hadn't pulled up any trees at other times in his career, but in this year, everything just clicked.

But it was over all too soon. A good start to the 86-7 season saw PNE come in for him with a bid of £20,000. This was a transfer which very nearly cost us our league status, as without Taylor we really struggled to score goals. Many a game in those days saw the frustrated supporters sing "There's only one Steve Taylor" in the closing minutes as Dale once again finished goalless.

We had a brief return of the goal machine a couple of years later, and in true Taylor style, he grabbed an equalising goal on his debut in a rain soaked Spotland midweek game against Hereford.

If I'm being honest, I'd say Taylor was my first ever Dale hero.

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