Get an in-depth look into Sutton’s newest recruit: Jake Taylor
Chris Agutter has regularly touched on the importance of having a vocal leader in his team; a wise, experienced figure to help his youthful Sutton team in the centre of the park, so it is therefore no surprise that he has turned to his third recruit since arriving from Worthing last month.
Jake Taylor has enjoyed a long and successful career, with many highs that has taken his playing days to the pinnacle of any footballer’s career, going as far as to play on the international stage.
Taylor’s footballing journey began in his home county of Berkshire, joining Reading at the age of eight, and he went on to enjoy ten years in the youth setup at the Madejski Stadium.
The midfielder represented the Academy and U18’s side before breaking into the senior team, even representing Wales for the first time at Under-17 and Under-19 level before even having his breakout at Reading.
He later made his debut for the Wales Under-21’s in a 1-0 defeat against Austria, the first of ten Under-21 caps which saw him captain the side in his last; a 5-0 defeat to Czech Republic, and was the cherry on top of an impressive campaign in Reading’s Academy in which he scored 20 goals across the youth sides in 2009/10.
This led to first team manager Brian McDermott handing him his senior debut in August 2010, replacing Julian Kelly as the Royals went on to seal a 3-3 draw in a Carling Cup game against Northampton Town, and at the end of that season, he was also handed his league debut as Michail Antonio made way for Taylor in a 2-1 win over Derby County that May.
The fleet-footed Ascot-born midfielder then enjoyed loan spells with Aldershot Town, Exeter City and Cheltenham Town, scoring his first senior goal for the latter in a win over Wycombe Wanderers, before another brief stint away at Crawley Town preceded his return to the Royals for the start of the 2013/14 season, with his time away allowing him to display early signs of his versatility as a midfielder with valuable playing time in the lower divisions, building a solid reputation as a hardworking, adaptable player.
Photo Credit: Reading Football Club
He subsequently appeared a handful of times at the start of the season for Reading, featuring for the first time in two-and-a-half years in a 2-1 defeat to Burnley, and he signed a new two-year contact with the Royals at the end of the season, leading into a 2014/15 campaign which started in fine form for Taylor. He scored his first professional goal for the Royals with the winner against Ipswich Town in August 2014, and he soon made that tally three come October with another winning goal against Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup, before netting during a 3-3 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
He also earned himself a first and only full-International cap of his career in October 2014, replacing Hal Robson-Kanu in the 84th minute of a 2–1 European qualification triumph against Cyprus.
Keen to continue his development, Taylor joined Leyton Orient on loan for the final two months of the 2014/15 campaign, making three appearances for the O’s, two of which involved playing wing-partner to former Reading club captain Jobi McAnuff, before moving north of the Anglo-Scottish border when he joined Scottish Premiership side Motherwell for the 2015/16 season.
However, he played eight times for the club before being recalled by Reading in January 2016 in order to facilitate a permanent departure from the Madejski Stadium, with Taylor opting to begin life away from Berkshire for the first time since joining all the way back in 1999.
His path subsequently took him back to former club Exeter, returning to the Grecians on a permanent basis to re-join a side with whom he perhaps enjoyed his best stint out on loan, having made 26 league starts and scoring three goals during City’s 2011/12 League One campaign, and contributed to their run to the Play-Off Final – the first of three in four years – with the Devon-based side falling to defeat against Coventry City
In his first full season as a permanent Grecian, he made 51 appearances – helping Paul Tisdale’s men reach another Wembley Play-Off Final – only to suffer defeat at the final hurdle as Blackpool pipped City to a place in League One, but had nonetheless established himself as a fan favourite at St James’s Park, and operated as club captain at the heart of Exeter’s midfield from 2018 onwards, being appointed upon the appointment of Matt Taylor as boss.
This had preceded his best career goalscoring season in 2017/18, netting eight times including late winners against Barnet and Cambridge United, before finding the target six times in 2018/19, four of which came in the space of a two-week period in October and November, and was followed by him helping City to another Wembley appearance, this time in 2019/20, as the Grecians again progressed to the Play-Off Final. Unfortunately, Jake and his teammates lost out again, this time to Northampton Town who progressed to the third tier.
The 2019/20 season was nonetheless a hugely positive one for the Grecians’ captain on a personal note, notably sandwiching his nuptials in between the best goalscoring run of his career, with a streak of four goals in five games to win the club’s Player of the Month award for October, alongside a wedding week like no other that saw him score in a comeback win over former club Crawley the day before getting married, before scoring his second goal of the season the following Saturday.
This also saw him contribute to a 13-game unbeaten run that at the time was the best in the top five divisions of English football, and put them just one point outside the automatic promotion places, and four off league leaders Newport County, with Taylor sitting third in the club’s goalscoring charts.
In addition to his goalscoring exploits, which was largely a rarer occurrence throughout his career, Jake relished the combative and quarrelsome nature of League Two, while proving to be a very popular leader with his teammates – he even described being named captain in 2018 as ‘the proudest moment of his Exeter career’.
However, after 293 appearances and 32 goals to his name in red and white, Taylor decided to call time on his Grecians career and move closer to his family, bringing a five-year spell at St. James Park City to an end when he announced his departure upon the expiry of his contract.
This led to a move to League Two rivals Stevenage, spending two years in Hertfordshire after becoming Alex Revell’s first recruit ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, and he subsequently featured under Sutton boss Agutter for the first time after Revell’s dismissal in November 2021, with the then-Under-18’s manager taking temporary charge of the first team at the LAMEX Stadium for a brief period. Taylor went on to appear over 100 times for the club, playing a key role in the Boro securing survival with two games to spare, before featuring 43 times as they made a complete U-turn in the fourth tier, winning promotion to League One with a second-place finish.
However, the midfielder was released ahead of their first campaign in League One in nine years, and he opted to drop into the National League at the age of 31 as he entered the twilight years of his career. A move to Eastleigh saw him link up with Kelvin Davis’ side in Hampshire and saw him make 38 appearances in all competitions in his debut season, scoring his first goal in a 2-1 away win against AFC Fylde and marking it with the Manager’s Player of the Season award, before being named club captain following the retirement of Aaron Martin, having worn the armband during a number of pre-season fixtures ahead of 2024/25.
He has since racked up a total of almost 100 appearances for the Spitfires, delivering consistently with five and six goals in his first two seasons at the Silverlake Stadium, before being rewarded with a contract extension until 2026 last summer.
Despite this, the arrival of Scott Bartlett has led to a host of change on the South Coast, with Jake opting to join up with Chris Agutter’s side ahead of the clash with his now former side, tomorrow night.
