Steven Vincent Taylor (born 23 January 1986) is an English former professional footballer and head coach who is the manager of UAE Third Division League club Al Qabila.

[2] He was raised in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside and attended Valley Gardens Middle School with future teammate Peter Ramage.

[3] Taylor, then a striker, joined the Newcastle United youth academy after being scouted at Cramlington Juniors, where he played alongside Peter Ramage, and Wallsend Boys Club.

[5] After finishing his GCSEs at Monkseaton High School, Taylor capped a fine season by joining the academy on a first-year scholarship and signed professional terms when he turned seventeen.

[6] The following season, he was sent on a month-long loan to Wycombe Wanderers where he played under his childhood hero Tony Adams[3] and made his league debut in the old Second Division against Notts County in December 2003.

During this season, the teenager was largely remembered for a bizarre incident in the 2 April match against Aston Villa where he "saved" Darius Vassell's shot and went down clutching his chest.

[13] He then scored his first league goal in a 3–1 victory against Blackburn Rovers on 9 December 2006, and began to play more regularly, making 12 starts for Newcastle in defence.

[14] Under Sam Allardyce, Taylor was in and out of the starting eleven and there were fears that he would leave after he had rejected the contract extension offered[15] Nevertheless, in November 2007, he was voted the North East FWA Young Player of the Year for his achievements.

[17] After several months of first-team starts, an injury caused Taylor lose his place to Sébastien Bassong, who formed an impressive partnership with Fabricio Coloccini.

He put some strong performances in vital matches, including scoring a goal and setting up another to earn a hard-fought draw away at Everton, and was back into the team, mostly at right-back due to injury problems.

Despite his strong performances, his season ended on a low note as Newcastle were relegated after failing to defeat Villa and an injury forced him to miss the U21 European Championships taking place in June.

In the end, he announced his decision to stay in a bid to help Newcastle regain Premier League status even though it meant that he would have to put his dreams of a senior international debut on hold.

Though he missed the rest of the season through injury, Newcastle finished at the top of the table with an unbeaten home record, winning direct promotion back to the Premier League.

On 28 November, Taylor marked his return by putting in a solid performance in a 1–1 home draw against Chelsea, partnering with Sol Campbell as stand-ins for the suspended Coloccini and Mike Williamson.

[31] Taylor was sent off on the opening weekend of the 2013–14 Premier League season away to Manchester City for swinging an arm at Sergio Agüero in the first half of a 4–0 defeat.

[35] On 6 August, Taylor turned out for their reserve side Portland Timbers 2 (aka T2) against LA Galaxy II, but scored an own goal and was substituted at half-time, in what was an eventual 4–3 win for T2.

He also played in 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship along with future under-21 teammates James Milner, Andrew Taylor and Martin Cranie and started in all the group matches despite being one of the youngest squad members at age seventeen.

He missed the first match through suspension due to his red card in the play-offs against Germany but played the other two group games and the semi-final where he was unable to stop the late equaliser after going down injured.

[57] During the second leg of the play-offs against Wales, his header from Jamie O'Hara's corner caused a Sam Vokes own-goal which levelled the score to send England through to the tournament.

He was due to lead them through the European Championships but a recurring injury forced him to withdraw, ending his under-21 career[58][59] and Mark Noble captained the team in his absence.

On 19 March 2013, Taylor was once again called up to the England national team senior squad for the World Cup qualifying match against San Marino, as a replacement for the injured Gary Cahill.