Sunderland considered Glen Taylor after 2021 friendly as Johnson joked ‘if only you were younger’ | OneFootball

Sunderland are said to have discussed a move for Spennymoor Town striker Glen Taylor in summer 2021 as they prepared for the new League One campaign.

Lee Johnson’s side visited National League North neighbours Spennymoor in pre-season, with Taylor unsettling Bailey Wright and Tom Flanagan during a 2-2 draw despite failing to score.

“We played a friendly and I played against Flanagan and Wright, who have decent pedigree. I battered them for the first-half, although they’ll probably not have been that bothered playing against Spennymoor. Lee Johnson came over to me at half-time and asked my age. I told him I was 30 and he said ‘if only you were younger big man’,” he told Sunderland Echo after signing a new two-year deal with Spennymoor last week.

“Then Jamie Chandler is good friends with Kevin Ball and I think Sunderland were struggling to get a forward and three or four weeks later Jamie said they were actually talking about me. Obviously I support Sunderland so it would have been a dream come true.”

Taylor, a lifelong Sunderland fan and now Spennymoor’s all-time record goalscorer, has since been named the North East Football Writers’ Association’s inaugural Non-League Personality of the Year. The honour has been renamed the Dicka Award in recognition of North East stalwart Paul Dixon’s contribution to the game as a player, coach and BBC Newcastle broadcaster across around 50 years.

Source: Sunderland Echo