Gareth Taylor has expressed his opinion and perspective on the Chloe Kelly saga.
He was fired from the job at Manchester City days before the League Cup final, and now he is the manager for Liverpool. I have concerns over his player management, as Jill Scott spoke about disagreeing with a manager and then going on loan from City, and he was the manager at the time.
The Chloe Kelly saga
Kelly pushed for a move in January after she was barely getting any minutes and was not first or second choice in her position, and she was not getting international selection months out from the Euros
She played third fiddle to Mary Fowler and Albany Fujino and only accumulated 165 minutes across six fixtures, averaging 27.5 minutes per game.
Asked in November when that lack of regular minutes might become a concern on an England front, Wiegman didn't beat around the bush. "I think it's a concern right now," she replied, eight months from the Lionesses' European title defence.
There was talk of interest from Manchester United in a loan move for Kelly, which City were unwilling to sanction. "To be dictated who I can and can’t join with, only four months left of the football season, is having a huge impact on not only my career but my mental well-being," Kelly wrote on Instagram. "The situation has dragged on for too long; it’s disappointing and not right. I am human, and I have and will give everything to the game that I love. Ultimately, I want to be happy again.”
On the last day of the transfer window, she forced a loan away from a club that mistreated her to ensure she got enough minutes to board that flight to Switzerland.
This was after contract negotiation failed and a souring relationship with the manager, Taylor.
In her social media post, she referenced the ‘negative behaviour’ towards her and said she ‘wanted to be happy again’. Later, she circulated the city for attempting to ‘assassinate her character’ on transfer day.
What he has said to BBC Sport
“You don't want it to be played out in public, but you know, I felt like all of that time I remained true to my role and what it entailed.”
When asked, looking back on what occurred if he had done differently, he had this to say.
“I think there's always things you look at and think probably both parties would look at that and think, you know, was there things we could have done a little bit more to help that situation but the situation was the situation.”
Is someone trying to make it out that Kelly was the baddy in this sitution she was trying to do her job and the thing she loves.
His reasoning for her not being selected was this
“ It was purely, for me, based around how the job to do. My job at that time was to pick a team that I felt was going to make us successful.
There was quite high competition levels in that one area of the pitch, which was, I think, is also a good thing for those players.”
That is all fine if there were so many other good players in that position why was he and the club so against Chloe Kelly leaving clearly didn’t want her or need her why prevent her from going elsewhere.
Some even say that Gareth Taylor almost cost England the Euros if Kelly was not able to find a way to leave and she would be stuck there with no minutes not fit for the Euros and then wouldn’t prove crucial assists and penalties to win it all.
The future
She is now permanently back at Arsenal, won the Champions League and Euros and he got sacked and rehired elsewhere.
She will face him on the 6th December.
I am concerned that his inability to manage players in the past could impact him now. He also has always had an amazing team and nothing really to show for it like Gareth Southgate, a world class team but unable to win. Whereas at Liverpool he will not have a world class team after they have sold off players like Olivia Smith and Taylor Hinds and he wouldn’t have the financial liabilities he had at City.
This does make me wonder if some Georgia Stanway, Lucy Bronze and Kiera Walsh all left City in 2022 after the Euros and after Jill Scott was kicked out of the club was it all because of him. We will never know.
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