Gareth Keith Taylor (born 25 February 1973) is a football manager and former player who is the head coach of Manchester City Women.

He transferred to Manchester City in 1998 for a £400,000 fee and was loaned out to Port Vale, Queens Park Rangers, and Burnley.

In 2008, he switched to Doncaster Rovers and joined Conference club Wrexham a year later, following a brief spell on loan at Carlisle United.

Born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, Taylor started his career with Southampton but failed to make any first-team appearances and was released.

His height meant he was a good target man and was exceptional in the air, scoring twelve goals (most of them headers) in his first full season alongside Marcus Stewart and Paul Miller in attack.

After a tense away goal victory over Crewe Alexandra in the semi-final, Rovers made it to Wembley, though they lost 2–1 to Huddersfield Town.

After four goals in seven games at the start of the following season, he was transferred to Crystal Palace for an initial £750,000 rising to an eventual £1.25 million on 27 September 1995.

[2] In 1996–97 he scored twelve goals, helping the club to the play-off final, though ironically United lost out 1–0 to Crystal Palace.

[8] Taylor had a highly successful 2001–02 season with the Lancashire club, scoring sixteen goals despite suffering an ankle injury in January.

[11] At the beginning of the 2003–04 season, following his recovery from a serious eye injury sustained while still at Burnley,[12] he became a regular in the side when David Johnson broke his leg.

With striker Grant Holt being signed to replace him, Taylor suddenly fell out of favour and was allowed to go on loan to Crewe Alexandra in January 2006,[15][16] where he enjoyed some success but was unable to prevent them too suffering relegation.

[19] At the end of June 2006, he joined Tranmere Rovers on a two-year contract, scoring nine goals in all competitions in his debut season.

Upon his recovery, he said: "I'm enjoying my football now, it's a great club and I'm really loving life at Tranmere", also giving high praise to manager Ronnie Moore.

[30] In June 2009, Taylor signed a one-year contract with Dean Saunders' Conference National side Wrexham,[31] leaving the Football League after eighteen years.

[34] Throughout his time at the Welsh club he began taking his coaching badges, and regularly took charge of the reserve team.

In September 2011, Taylor was appointed as a coach at his former club Manchester City and was given the task of developing young talent in Dubai.

[40] On 1 November 2020, he led City to a 3–1 victory over Everton in the 2020 final of the Women's FA Cup at Wembley Stadium.

[48] He was named as Super League Manager of the Month for February 2023 after guiding the team to victories over Leicester City and Arsenal to extend the club's unbeaten run to eleven matches.

[52] He was named as WSL Manager of the Month in both February and March as his team put together a winning streak to lead the table.

[53][54] City finished second in the 2023–24 Women's Super League season after being overtaken by Chelsea on goal difference on the final day.