Sheffield United took a gamble on prolific Scottish Championship striker – Blades didn’t get what Charlton & AFC Wimbledon did

Blades lost to Charlton & AFC Wimbledon after Sheffield United gambled on a prolific Scottish Championship scorer.

Taylor was already enjoying his third taste of EFL life when he signed with Sheffield United in July 2013. After failing to make an impression in the first team at Millwall, he spent a few of years with Bournemouth, which only resulted in loans to non-league teams and further misery.

However, a move to Falkirk in 2012 appeared to show promise. In the 2012–13 season, he made 34 appearances for the Bairns and scored 24 league goals, which made English clubs aware of his potential availability. He appeared poised to sign a contract with Rotherham United at the end of the 2012–13 campaign, however he was unable to reach a personal agreement with them.

Sheffield United took control barely over a week later. By this point, the Blades were in League One and had recently lost to Yeovil Town in the playoffs. Additionally, Taylor’s objectives appeared to be a viable remedy. They transported the striker to Bramall Lane for an undisclosed sum.

However, the Blades had a terrible start to the 2013–14 season under David Weir’s management, and by the time he was fired after only four months, they were third from the bottom of the table with the fewest goals in the division. And of the six they had managed, Taylor had not scored any. Weir scored his first two goals for the team two days after being fired, but they were insufficient to stop a 3-2 loss to Coventry.

Despite the appointment of Nigel Clough as manager, there were still few opportunities for the first team. He was loaned out to Partick Thistle for the second half of the season after scoring just two goals in the League during his time at Coventry.

Even though Taylor still had a year left on his contract, his time with the Blades was coming to an end, despite the fact that they bounced back from their poor start to finish seventh. He transferred to Scunthorpe United after just one season.

Although it didn’t happen at Scunthorpe, Taylor would go on to become a formidable striker. Before moving to AFC Wimbledon in 2015, he had another loan stint at Partick and managed three in eighteen games for them.

After returning to London, it became clear. He had scored 23 League goals at the end of his debut season, including the first in Wimbledon’s victory over Plymouth in the League Two play-off final. The striker, who was born in London, subsequently moved on to Charlton Athletic, where he scored a goal every other game until joining Nottingham Forest. He is still active today; during the 2024–2025 season, he scored 10 goals for Colchester United in the League.

In addition, Sheffield United wasn’t much better off without him at first; it took them until 2017 to return to the Championship, and by the beginning of the 2020s, they were back in the Premier League. They might reflect on whether they would have arrived sooner if Lyle Taylor had done for them what he ultimately did for AFC Wimbledon and Charlton Athletic.

Read more  news on https://www.sportupdates.co.uk/