{"id":211,"date":"2020-06-09T11:25:39","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T10:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/?p=211"},"modified":"2020-06-09T18:50:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T17:50:07","slug":"lyle-taylor-charlton-last-impressions-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/lyle-taylor-charlton-last-impressions-count\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Impressions Count"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My personal view on Lyle Taylor’s controversial decision to cut his Charlton career short. First published in June 2020 by Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My AFC Wimbledon mates tried to warn me. \u201cHe\u2019s a bit big-headed,\u201d they said. \u201cI quite like his hair-style with all those curls piled up on top,\u201d I replied at a tangent, \u201cespecially when he dyes it pink to raise money for breast cancer charities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not that good in the air,\u201d they said. I laughed and pointed to his fantastic headed goals for us. \u201cHe\u2019s not a team player,\u201d they continued. \u201cOh rubbish \u2013 he\u2019s our talisman and the other players clearly love him!\u201d I boasted. \u201cHe got the best out of Karlan Grant. He\u2019s really supported loads of our young players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s overly fond of back-heels, mostly unsuccessful,\u201d one of them retorted, starting to sound a little bitter and desperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Tweeted that remark after penning an article called \u201cThe Meaning of Lyle<\/span><\/a>\u201d for the away guest page in the Dons\u2019 programme last season. Taylor himself picked up on it and responded via the social medium, indignant at the \u201cmostly unsuccessful\u201d description. I challenged him to prove my mate wrong and score a back-heel goal. He publicly accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was approaching the end of last season. I\u2019d booked the trip back to Floyd Road from my home in Scotland for the last game v Rochdale. \u201cWhy are we going to all this expense and effort for a meaningless match?\u201d enquired my husband. I had no answer, other than the 45-year-old habit of always attending the final fixture. \u201cBut it\u2019s not going to be the last match of the season, now, is it?\u201d He said. \u201cWe\u2019re already in the play-offs.\u201d Hmmm. Fair point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyle Taylor – I assume in vicarious response to my challenge – came to the rescue and lifted that match out of the ordinary. I watched on incredulously from the front row of the North Upper as Charlton player after Charlton player attempted a back-heel pass, a back-heel flick, a back-heel shot. I swear I counted eight or ten. None by Taylor and most of them unsuccessful. I felt my cheeks reddening as the minutes went past. Never had I expected to influence on-pitch shenanigans in such a way. Thank heavens we won 4-0 and grabbed third place or Bowyer would be after me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor eventually came good himself on the challenge \u2013 with a deft flick of the heel following a corner to secure victory in our first match of this season away at Blackburn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even a week ago I was still defending Lyle to my Wimbledon mates: \u201cYes, he\u2019s out of contract, and Charlton have mucked him about over a new one. We know he\u2019s off. He deserves his last chance at a big payday. He\u2019s been brilliant for us. We wouldn\u2019t be at the bottom of the table if he hadn\u2019t got injured playing for Montserrat and missed a dozen or so games. And he really gets it \u2013 he\u2019s been quite outspoken about the craziness behind the scenes and I think he genuinely feels for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was elated when I saw the restart photos of socially-distanced training, with Lyle in the thick of it, looking as fit and lively as ever. Then Bowyer spoke. And now we know. Lyle will not wear the Addicks shirt again. He fears an injury may thwart that lucrative move. Like Scott Parker before him, he has plunged from hero to zero in one petulant moment. Curbishley has admitted that the departure of Parker was the beginning of the end of his Charlton managerial reign. Let\u2019s hope Bowyer does not feel quite so betrayed by his star striker \u2013 the one who was a bit disruptive in the dressing room, not very good in the air and pretty useless at back-flicks until Lee and his coaches got hold of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been a football fan and indeed a Charlton fan for more than long enough to realise that footballers have short careers, have to be selfish battlers and mostly think very differently from fans. They wouldn\u2019t survive long on the pitch otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But each to their own. At the close of last season another stalwart of recent years was about to leave. He\u2019d not been offered a contract reflective of his talents. Indeed, he had been honest that he would be moving on. Yet he strode onto the Valley pitch for the Doncaster home play-off semi-final just hours after his wife gave birth. And six seconds from the final whistle at Wembley, he cemented his legendary status. Like a true Addick fan, Patrick Bauer confesses that he must have watched that goal a thousand times. He will never forget that moment and neither will we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does anyone remember Lyle Taylor\u2019s last touch?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My AFC Wimbledon mates tried to warn me. \u201cHe\u2019s a bit big-headed,\u201d they said. \u201cI quite like his hair-style with all those curls piled up on top,\u201d I replied at a tangent, \u201cespecially when he dyes it pink to raise money for breast cancer charities.\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s not that good in the air,\u201d they said. I … Continue reading “Last Impressions Count”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sbb_scratchpad_field":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[16,15],"yoast_head":"\nLast Impressions Count - Heather McKinlay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Heather McKinlay's view on star striker Lyle Taylor's controversial decision not to complete the season with Charlton Athletic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/lyle-taylor-charlton-last-impressions-count\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last Impressions Count - Heather McKinlay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Heather McKinlay's view on star striker Lyle Taylor's controversial decision not to complete the season with Charlton Athletic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/lyle-taylor-charlton-last-impressions-count\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Heather McKinlay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-09T10:25:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-09T17:50:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/L-Taylor-v-Boro-K-Andrews-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1363\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Heather McKinlay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Heather McKinlay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/\",\"name\":\"Heather McKinlay\",\"description\":\"Writing about football\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3faceb7154ca36928f12ee0815a5f80\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/lyle-taylor-charlton-last-impressions-count\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/heathermckinlay.com\/lyle-taylor-charlton-last-impressions-count\/\",\"name\":\"Last Impressions Count - 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