Sunderland are said to have discussed a move for a non-league striker during the summer of 2021 as they prepared for life in League One.
Sunderland considered a move for one of North East non-league football’s most prolific strikers as they looked to bounce back from suffering consecutive relegation.
The Black Cats were still reeling from their relegation from the Championship during the summer of 2021 as they kicked off their preparations for the season under new manager Lee Johnson with a visit to National League North neighbours Spennymoor Town. With Bailey Wright and Tom Flanagan at the heart of their defence, Sunderland were given a torrid time by Moors striker Glen Taylor, who had already established himself as one of the most deadly forwards in non-league football during his time at Brewery Field.
Now the Moors all-time record goalscorer, lifelong Sunderland fan Taylor did not find the net as the two sides battled to a 2-2 draw - but he did reveal his performance did provoke a short chat with then-Black Cats boss Johnson and was told the Black Cats recruitment team were ‘actually talking about him’ as they looked to boost their attacking ranks ahead of the League One season.
Speaking to The Echo after penning a new two-year deal with Spennymoor last week: “We played a friendly and I played against Flanagan and Wright, who have decent pedigree. I battered them for the first-half - although they’ll probably not have been that bothered playing against Spennymoor. Lee Johnson came over to me at half-time and asked my age. I told him I was 30 and he said ‘if only you were younger big man’. Then Jamie Chandler is good friends with Kevin Ball and I think Sunderland were struggling to get a forward and three or four weeks later Jamie said they were actually talking about me. Obviously I support Sunderland so it would have been a dream come true.”
Award
Glen Taylor receives the North East Football Writers Association Non-league Personality of the Year award sponsored by H.Malone and Sons! (photo Mya Poole, Spennymoor Town)placeholder image
Glen Taylor receives the North East Football Writers Association Non-league Personality of the Year award sponsored by H.Malone and Sons! (photo Mya Poole, Spennymoor Town) | Mya Poole, Spennymoor Town
Taylor was speaking to The Echo after being named as the North East Football Writers Association’s inaugural ‘Non-League Personality of the Year’. The award has now been renamed ‘The Dicka Award’ as the FWA honour North East non-league stalwart Paul Dixon for his services to the game as a player, coach and as a broadcaster with BBC Newcastle over the last 50 years. Taylor paid his own tribute to the man himself after he handed over the new award alongside NEFWA chairman Colin Young.
He said: “My first memories of Dicka was going to a Sunderland match with my Dad and being stuck in traffic on the way home, listening to BBC Newcastle and hearing Dicka’s voice talking about Ashington, talking about our town, the local area. It was his voice reading the scores out and we’d try and work out the score based on his tone.
“When I was playing, listening on the way home from a game, hearing him say West Allotment won 2-1 and I’d scored, hearing his voice, talking about me and my team, I grew up with that. I’ve spoken to Dicka a lot of times since then and he’s simply a legend.”
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