STUART TAYLOR IS ready to repay Limerick’s faith in him by laying the foundations for the club’s long-term success.
Taylor was officially announced as the Blues’ new manager yesterday and handed a three-year contract as he prepares to mastermind their first season back in the top flight since 1994.
But the man who helped nurture the young career of Republic of Ireland midfielder James McCarthy says he won’t be tempted into any quick fix moves and is planning for the long game instead.
After almost two months of speculation linking Limerick to marquee names with top-level credentials such as Phil Brown and Peter Taylor, the decision to bring in a 38-year-old with no senior managerial experience may raise some eyebrows on Shannonside.
The highlight of the Scot’s coaching CV is his time as Hamilton Academical assistant where a team including McCarthy and Wigan team-mate James McArthur fired the club to the First Division title and SPL promotion in 2007/2008. Most recently he traded the Scottish lowlands for the sunnier climes of Qatar and was working as youth coach with Al Khor since August of last year.
“I had an opportunity to stay at Scotland at a Premiership side which was a fantastic move but it was financial decision [to move to Qatar] — which I really don’t like talking about because I’m not all about finance,” he told TheScore.ie. ”For me the motivation is what you do on the football pitch, what you do on the training pitch and what you do to progress your club.
Obviously the way they go about their life is completely different and I was respectful of that, but it made me look at different avenues of how my philosophy would fit into that. It was a project I enjoyed but it’s now a case that it’s done and dusted. It’s put behind me and I need to move on.
As he settles down in Irish football for the first time since his brief playing days with Drogheda United in 2002, the blueprint for Taylor’s successful return is marked out for him. Two other left-field appointments — Sligo Rovers’ decision to bring in Paul Cook and then Ian Baraclough from the English lower leagues — have shown that the unknown is not always as much of a risk as it seems.
“I’ve always been ambitious and I continue to be ambitious. I always wanted to push myself and come back to Ireland at a level like this.
“Lately there has been more ‘non-Irish’ managers if you want to put it that way but I think it’s great because it brings a different perspective to things. It brings new ideas in.”
Although Taylor’s time with Drogheda was brief — he moved to Falkirk in 2003 — his sense of connection with the League of Ireland remains and he hopes that some old friends might lend a helping hand when it comes to brushing up on the current state of play.
“I’ve still kept in touch with a lot of people, came over to see them many times, brought many players over to Scotland on trial — some we signed, some we didn’t.
“All in all, I’m very aware of what’s going on and that was always an intention: for me to come back at some point. To come back at a club like this is a fantastic opportunity.
With regard to new signings, he adds: “I know who’s available and I know who’s good. The big thing for me is that the right type of player comes to the club character-wise, mentality-wise, ability-wise, tactically. Everything’s got to be right.”
Asked what style of football people can expect of his new Limerick side, Taylor’s response is exactly what you would expect of a young, hungry manager eager to please.
I like us to go and pass the ball. I like us to go and play football. Football’s football — it depends on how you go and do it, what your philosophy is, what your formation is.I’m looking to put a team on the park that will go and pass the ball attractively and attackingly at a high tempo. It’ll be enjoyable for the players, certainly there’ll be plenty of energy about, and it’ll be a team that the Limerick supporters are delighted to watch every week.
He adds: “It’s my first manager’s job and a chance to show what I’m all about. I want to go and put the foundations in place for the long-term plan of the club. I don’t believe in doing anything as a short fix because short fixes are never good for the club and I think that’s been proven over the years when many clubs were in financially difficult times. That’s not what I want to do here. I want to put a strategy in place where Limerick will be here in five, 10, 15, 20 years time.”
That work begins today when Taylor takes his first training session with what will be the core of Limerick’s squad for the 2013 campaign. He already has his backroom staff all but finalised, with the intention to confirm the names next week, and more importantly he has the trust of chairman Pat O’Sullivan who stressed a number of times at yesterday’s media conference in Dublin that this is the man who will have full responsibility for footballing matters at the club.
That is a debt that Taylor is anxious to repay.
“I thank him and I’ll continue to thank him by hopefully bringing success to the club. He has done the right thing by giving me three years because I’m looking for everything to come into fruition over the next two, three years and I’m looking to continue on after that as well.
It’s not just a case of me doing my three years and then I’m away. It’s not like that at all. It’s about paying the loyalty back for the loyalty he’s shown me and the confidence he’s shown in me.
