Taylor still positive despite relegation (20.04.06)

NEVER one to be pessimistic, Magpies boss Carl Taylor accepted relegation was a failure on his part, but that the long term positives at the club outweigh the negatives.
Taylor told the Advertiser: “I have failed in my quest to keep us up, but I have not failed the players or fans in the amount of effort I have put in.
“We will probably go into the Southern League, although because of financial situations at other clubs you never know what will happen.
“I have learned a lot about the players and myself this season and we’ll be better for it.”
Laughing, he then found a silver lining in his own performance, saying: “If you think we’ve had a bad run, look at Hayes. They were fifth when I took over at Maidenhead, now they’re second from bottom, so I’m not the worst manager in league!
“I have always stayed positive and always will.”
Taylor’s team’s fate was sealed on Saturday when they went down 1-0 in a dull defeat to Lewes, and even a top-notch 2-1 win at Thurrock two days later could not alter the inevitable.
Now, even if the Magpies win their last two matches, they cannot escape from the bottom two. The best they can achieve is to finish level on points with third-from-bottom Carshalton Athletic, but the Surrey side have a far superior goal difference.
The York Road side can now only battle to leapfrog Hayes and finish second from bottom, and then pray a club elsewhere in the pyramid has financial problems and get demoted in place of the Magpies, as was the case with Hornchurch last season.
But more realistically the Magpies have to gear themselves up for life, probably, in the Southern League Premier Division next season, something that Taylor is already planning for.
He said: “I’m hoping most of players will be around for next season.
“I expect them to be, and I’m sure we’ll do well. It’ll be nice to put some good runs together, both for the players and the fans.
“We are a young side but our experience is growing.”
And Taylor will have taken heart from his side’s unexpected success at Thurrock, particularly as they were a goal down and a player down after just seven minutes.
He said: “The turnaround from Saturday is inexplicable really.
“The way we fought back after Steve Dell was dismissed was tremendous; I’m so proud of the players.
“We could have been four up by the break. Then in the second half we managed the situation well and could have added to the score, although our keeper Franciso Ramos also had to pull off a couple of sensational saves to keep Thurrock out.
“At end of match the Thurrock fans applauded us off – praise doesn’t come more highly than that in football.
“Given that we were short on numbers and against the odds it was a sensational display. I’m really pleased for the fans who travelled. It showed what we can do and how far this very young team has come.”
He added: “The back three, as they became, were awesome and looked like they had played together all season.”
Looking ahead, and still setting himself targets for this campaign, Taylor is anticipating a competitive clash with Eastbourne Borough at York Road tomorrow (Saturday).
He said: “It’ll see the return of Lee Newman, and would be a nice one to win.
“We owe our fans a good performance at home.”