Neil Taylor

Wrexham

Taylor began his career at Manchester City, but left the club at the age of 15. He instead moved to Wrexham at the age of 16, progressing through the youth system at the club, signing a professional contract in July 2007. He made his professional debut on 28 August 2007 in the second round of the League Cup, as a 79th-minute substitute for Eifion Williams in a 0–5 home loss to Aston Villa at the Racecourse Ground. On 22 September, he made his league debut, starting in a 2–1 League Two loss at Stockport County, crossing for the opening goal by Marc Williams. He finished the 2007–08 season when he made 27 league and cup appearances. He signed an extension to his contract on 13 March 2008, keeping him at Wrexham until 2010. Wrexham finished the season with relegation out of The Football League. On 7 October 2008, Taylor scored his first career goal in a 3–1 home win over York City in the Conference Premier, a match in which he was captain, and followed it up with another in a 5–0 rout of Eastbourne Borough on 20 December. His only other Wrexham goal came in his last appearance on 10 April 2010, volleying to conclude a 2–0 win at relegated Grays Athletic.

Swansea City

At the end of the 2009–10 season, Taylor joined Football League Championship side Swansea City on a free transfer. A fee of £150,000 plus 10% of any future profit was agreed between the two clubs just before entering a professional footballers compensation committee tribunal on 30…

Wales

Taylor was also eligible for India through his mother. He made his debut for Wales on 23 May 2010 in a friendly against Croatia at the Stadion Gradski vrt, replacing Andy Dorman for the final 23 minutes of the 2–0 loss; he and Mark Bradley had been promoted from the under-21 team in an emergency. In May 2011, he played two matches at the Nations Cup in Dublin. On 9 September 2014, in Wales' first match of UEFA Euro 2016 qualification, he gave away a penalty to Andorra in the fifth minute, converted by Ildefons Lima, but the Welsh fought back for a 2–1 victory. At the final tournament in France, he played every minute as Wales reached a tournament semi-final for the first time. He scored his first international goal in a 3–0 group win over Russia; it was his first senior goal since one for Wrexham at Grays Athletic in April 2010. On 24 March 2017, Taylor was sent off for breaking Séamus Coleman's leg in two places with a reckless tackle in a goalless draw against the Republic of Ireland in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying game, leaving Coleman out injured for a year. Coleman needed surgery on a broken tibia and fibula and Taylor was given a two-match international ban by FIFA. He withdrew from the national team in November 2019 for personal reasons, and subsequently retired from international football.

Great Britain

Stuart Pearce named Taylor in his 18-man squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as one of three Swansea City players. He played his…

In March 2023, Taylor was appointed assistant to Wales under-21 manager Matt Jones. On 1 September 2023, Taylor was appointed First Team Manager of UAE First Division side Gulf United FC. The team is a private club who achieved back-to-back promotions from the UAE Second Division and UAE Third Division across the past two seasons. The club confirmed that he "will remain in his role as assistant coach with the Wales U21's National Team on international breaks throughout the season". In May 2024, he was one of twenty candidates to be issued a UEFA Pro Licence by the Football Association of Wales after completing a two-year course. On 25 August 2024, Taylor departed Gulf United after one season in charge.

Taylor was born in St Asaph, Denbighshire, and brought up in nearby Ruthin, where he attended Ysgol Brynhyfryd. He is of mixed Welsh-Bengali descent; his mother, Shibani Chakraborty, is an Indian Bengali from Kolkata, while his father, John Taylor, is Welsh. While playing for Swansea he lived with his wife Genna and their two children in Killay, Swansea. In a 2016 spring clean, they donated furniture worth thousands of pounds to be sold by the British Heart Foundation. Taylor travels to India to promote football, and has said that due to his name, the population are surprised to learn of his ancestry. Taylor became president of Ruthin Town in 2016.