The son of a German mother and an English soldier serving with the REME in Germany, Maik Taylor came home with his father, joined the army at 16 and was stationed at Bordon with the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. Maik was already familiar with English football – and Southampton in particular.

His earliest football memory was the 1976 FA Cup Final, after which he grew up supporting the Saints, acquiring first Kevin Keegan and then Matt Le Tissier as his idol.

Playing in goal, part-time, for some high-profile, non-league clubs in Hampshire, he came to the notice of ex-England goalkeeper and manager of Barnet, Ray Clemence, who bought Maik out of the Army for £700. Two-and-a-half years later, he made his dream move, when Graeme Souness brought him to The Dell for £500,000.

Souness later confessed to Maik that he’d never seen him play, having signed him solely on Clemence’s recommendation – a brave move in the wake of the fiasco, only two months before, of Aly Dia (as described in his profile). Maik was booked on his Southampton debut, but his clean sheet helped to secure a 1-0 win at Middlesbrough, the importance of which would become clear when Boro fell through the relegation-trapdoor that the Saints just escaped.

Having become a fixture for the second half of that 1996-97 season, Maik now suffered from a change of managers. Souness departed to be replaced by Dave Jones, who immediately went back to Stockport to sign his namesake, Paul. Initially, Maik wanted to fight for his place, but with Southampton keen to recoup the Paul Jones fee, he was sold, at a profit, to Fulham, recently promoted to the third-tier. His boyhood idol, Kevin Keegan, who considered Maik

“the best taker of a cross in Britain,”

soon took over as director of football. As managers came and went, Fulham continued to climb, until Maik was playing in the Premiership. But by now an understudy to Edwin Van Der Sar, he took the opportunity of first-team football with Birmingham City, as they yo-yoed between the top two flights. After which, he settled for Championship football, with Leeds and, finally, Millwall. In September 2012, shortly after his 42nd birthday, Maik made his 502nd – and last – League appearance.  Born overseas with a British passport, Maik was eligible to represent any of the home-nations. He opted for Northern Ireland. Having won 88 caps for them, he became their goalkeeping coach in the summer of 2013. Still working as the national goalkeeping coach, the 43-year-old Taylor made an emergency return to the squad in June 2015 as a back-up goalkeeper, following an injury to Roy Carroll the day before a Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania.