Discarded Reggae Boy Evan Taylor – once fast-tracked for greatness – is quietly optimistic that a summer transfer to former Premier League champions Harbour View could revive a floundering international career.
Taylor joined the Stars of the East on a three season-long loan from boyhood club Reno during the summer transfer window and showed impressive form for his new club, as he dominated the midfield in recent showings of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Champions Cup.
“I am looking to do well here and I would like to say thanks to the club for believing in me. They made me feel at home and feel welcome, so I’m looking forward to giving it a good shot,” said Taylor, who also had a stint at the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency and Charleston Battery of the USA’s Pro League.
Taylor has come a long way from 2008, when the midfielder, then only 19 years old, made a big impression on then national senior football team coach Rene Simoes.
The coach invited Taylor to train with the national senior team after watching him pull the strings in the centre of the park for the Under-20 team. What came next for the youngster was a bit of a surprise – even for him – a dizzy rise to prominence, thrust into a starting midfield role for the senior squad in crucial Word Cup Qualifying games.
At the time Simoes drew comparisons to another Jamaican youngster who made his debut as a teenager, Ricardo Gardner (who had an exceptional stint at English Premier League outfit Bolton Wanderers), but unfortunately for Taylor, things would not turn out quite so well.
The young midfielder – along with a couple of the Brazilian coach’s more controversial selections who looked comfortable in earlier fixtures against lower-rated teams – bore the brunt of the blame for the failed start to the 2010 campaign, which saw Jamaica take one point from their first three games, which included big losses away to Mexico and Honduras.
Perhaps not surprisingly, current national coach Theodore Whitmore, who took over following Simoes’ dismissal, did not share his optimism regarding Taylor. The player and his teammate Davion Thorpe, and a few others, were unceremoniously returned to the Under-20 in favour of more experienced players. Since then, national team caps have been hard to come by.
Recalled in 2010
Taylor was recalled by Whitmore in 2010 ahead of the Digicel Caribbean Championship, but never made the final cut. However, he remains optimistic.
“I’m confident that there is still a place for me (in the national team), I can definitely force my way back into contention and work my way back in,” Taylor told The Gleaner.
“I just have to work hard, really hard. My aim is to get back into the national team, that is one of my dreams, so I’m determined to give it my best shot,” he added.
The 23-year-old insists that despite being initiatially troubled by the jarring fall back to reality, he now uses it as a source of inspiration.
“It’s definitely a motivational factor for me, I just have to build on that. I have to hold my head up, I won’t let it drop. I just know I have to build and come again.”