Barnet paid £700 to secure the 24-year-old’s release in June 1995. Eighteen months later, Southampton manager Souness paid £500,000 to bring him to the Premier League.
A fan of the club dating back to that FA Cup final win two decades prior, Taylor’s stay at The Dell lasted just 11 months with Souness having departed at the end of his first season in the top flight.
After his childhood hero Keegan signed him for an ambitious Fulham side seeking promotion from the third tier, it was at Craven Cottage where Taylor’s international potential came to the attention of McMenemy, who had become Northern Ireland manager in 1998.
Through a since closed loophole, at the time a British citizen born abroad was eligible to represent any of the Home Nations. McMenemy, who had been Southampton manager when Keegan had played for the club in the early eighties, enquired about Taylor’s interest before the man himself even “had any idea” he qualified.
“When Kevin approached me and said that he’d been contacted by Northern Ireland, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to go and represent a country and play international football,” he says.
“I was in my late twenties playing in League One. Put it this way, it didn’t take me long to decide.”
Taylor was not the only player Northern Ireland approached on such grounds with a lengthy courtship of Birmingham City’s Nigeria-born striker Dele Adebola ultimately proving fruitless.
As such, there was a degree of scepticism around Taylor’s level of commitment given he had never set foot in Northern Ireland before being included as an overage player for an under-21 fixture against Switzerland in April 1998.
“Initially, because we lost some bad games and we were poor in certain games, when you’re not born and bred in the country some things are said in the stands that aren’t pleasant to hear.
“I kind of understood that, but then I was determined to repay the faith through my dedication and availability whenever I was called upon.
“Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t last very long, and once I’d won them over and everyone saw that I was hellbent on being successful, things obviously changed.”
