Big Interview: Maik Taylor, from Army tanks to marshalling defences

In reality, he was never meant to make it. All the signs directed him to a life in the military but when his chance came at the age of 24, he took it.

The 48-year-old can now look back on a successful career where he's tasted promotion and relegation – joy and heartache – and where he's battled the some of the country's best goalkeepers for the number one jersey.

His father was a staff sergeant in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and had met his wife while based in Germany, where Taylor was born and spent his formative years.

He spent his first 12 years in Germany, moving every few years around the north of the country, before moving to England.

Sitting in an executive suite overlooking the Banks's Stadium, Taylor reminisced on a fond but 'tough' start to life.

"It was a bit difficult as every four years we would move, so that was quite tough," he said.

"As a child growing up doing my schooling it was quite exciting to move too, but you got used to it – it was a way of life for us."

Taylor, aged 16, following in his father's footsteps straight from school and ended up as a lance corporal at the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in Borden, Hampshire after eight years in uniform.

"It was a no-brainer for me to join the army myself, it was all I knew," he added.

His time was split between working with tanks and playing part-time for Farnborough Town but before that, his journey to a place between the sticks came from his time in the army.

In his early military days, after growing up playing as an outfield player, he had a sour taste of the goalkeeping gloves before the pieces finally began to fall into place when a team-mate didn't fancy diving around in the harsh conditions.

"It had rained heavily and there was a huge puddle in the goalmouth, I'd just finished basic training," Taylor said.

"It was only three months until the end of the season and I opted to go in goal and did ok.

"It was the junior army at the time and it wasn't for me, I didn't enjoy it, so I started playing outfield again.

"Two years later when I was 19 and went into the proper adult service as a mechanic, I was asked to play in goal because I was only going to be there for two or three months.

"I was getting my track licence to drive the tanks before getting posted back to Germany, and as I was only there for a couple months they felt it was the best position for me.

"I disagreed but went along with it, but playing against men I thoroughly enjoyed it as I had a lot more to do.

"One of my coaches was a manager in non-league so I joined them for a season and the progression was pretty rapid after that."

The big break came soon after, when Liverpool and England legend Ray Clemence – managing Barnet – spotted Taylor's talents.

"I was nearly 24 and had been on around four or five trials with various clubs, but nothing came of them," he added.

"My career was in the army at that point, I felt a million miles off a career as a professional footballer.

"You think it's passed you by and then I had a couple of good seasons at Farnborough Town in the National League as it is now.

"Barnet had watched me all season long and then I got a call from Ray Clemence.

"It's quite ironic that of all the trials I was on, the only one that actually had faith in me was Ray Clemence, so he obviously saw something there.

"I went up there for a two-hour training session with him and he liked what he saw – he made it clear that he wanted me out of the army to go full-time.

"The army were good to me in that respect and things moved pretty quickly.

"I came into the game late so I wanted to give it my best shot, work hard every single day and let my career take its course."

From there, Taylor moved on to play for Southampton, the team he grew up supporting. "It was the icing on the cake," he said.

"I'd had a taste of the Premier League and played the last 20 games of the season with Southampton and then found myself out of the team.

"I agreed to go with Kevin Keegan at Fulham and dropped down two levels.

"Once I had the taste of playing in the Premier League I wanted to get back there, I wouldn't have gone if I didn't see the aspirations and ambition of Fulham.

"There was only one place they were going to go with the types of players they were bringing in, it was going to be an exciting period for them.

"That was fantastic but obviously with Edwin van der Sar, you're banging your head against a wall trying to get the shirt from him.

"Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say, it's probably a bridge too far."

A successful seven years at Fulham ended to allow a blossoming eight-year spell at Birmingham to begin.

After battling with van der Sar at Fulham, Taylor found himself challenging Joe Hart and Ben Foster during his time at Blues, but he stood strong.

"We had two or three really successful seasons with Steve Bruce and tried to bridge that gap to sneak into the European positions," he said.

"Then we were very unlucky with injuries and had a really difficult season and ended up getting relegated, which was a big blow.

"My contract was up then and I had the opportunity to move but my family was settled in the area and I absolutely loved the club, so I wanted to give something back and get them back to the Premier League.

"I was around 39 when I left Blues but in the last two years Joe Hart and Ben Foster came in, these are England internationals, so I can take some satisfaction that this is the level that's having to keep me out of the team.

"I'm part of the goalies union and respect that only one can play, and that's the manager's decision."

His career ended aged 41 after short spells with both Leeds and Millwall but throughout his whole career, his international exploits stand out.

With an overseas British passport Taylor qualified to play for any of the home nations, but as he was playing in League One at 28-years-old, playing for England seemed impossible – but his ambition to plat internationally wasn't over.

And it produced one of the proudest moments of his career, the 'pinnacle' 1-0 win over England.

"The chance to play international football was a million miles away and then Northern Ireland showed an interest," he added.

"It was an amazing time, despite being a difficult period for the team, but I always thoroughly enjoyed putting that jersey on.

"Beating England at Windsor Park was the pinnacle.

"My two sons were mascots on the night, one came out holding Becks' (David Beckham) hand and it was an incredible night.

"We were really at rock bottom and England were flying, it was a crazy night.

"He (David Healy) was an amazing talent, everything he touched turned to gold.

"Once he got that green jersey on he came alive and anything around the box he was just incredible.

"To think how many goals he scored for our country, he's so far ahead of everyone else.

"It was an honour and pleasure to play in that period."

Following his playing career, Taylor spent time as a goalkeeper coach for the Northern Ireland squad and Bradford before the Walsall opportunity came up.

After a whirlwind career, for Taylor it always came full circle to his military roots – a grounding he believes set him up for success.

"You lead a very disciplined lifestyle in the army and that helped my progression," he said.

"I had the tools, I was tall, athletic and could catch a ball without thinking about it, so things progressed quickly on the back of the hard work.

"The only time you can ever have any regrets in your career is if you don't work your hardest.

"Work hard every day and your career path will take care of itself.

"If I stayed in League Two for my whole career, I'd have had no regrets because I couldn't possibly have worked any harder.

"I'd have no problems holding my hands up and saying maybe I wasn't good enough.

"But if you work as hard as you can then you give yourself every opportunity to better yourself in any walk of life."