Burnley News 24/7Writer: turfmanphil 
Date:Wednesday May 5 2010
Time: 9:53AM
UK time is: 06:14:24
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Rumour Mill-Keeping Tabs on Maik Taylor
Burnley boss Brian Laws is interested in signing Birmingham City`s Northern Ireland international keeper Maik Taylor on a free transfer according to Alan Nixon in the Mirror.
Nixon goes on to say that Laws is willing to offer a two-year contract in an effort to attract him to Burnley and give him a chance to play first-team football albeit in the Championship after our relegaton.
The veteran keeper, now 38 is understood to be unhappy at St Andrews where he has had to be understudy to on-loan Joe Hart for the past year.
Taylor who was born in Hildesheim, Germany began his football career at ASC Nienburg before moving to England as a schoolboy.
He played for a spate of non-league clubs including Petersfield Town, Basingstoke Town and Farnborough Town before signing for Barnet in June 1995.
In January 1997 he was sold to Southampton, then in the Premiership for £500,000.
He replaced Dave Beasant in the first team and things looked rosy under Saints manager, Graeme Souness. However Souness left in the summer of 1997 to be replaced by Dave Jones who brought in several new players including keeper, Paul Jones.
Taylor found himself on the bench and was sold to Fulham in November 1997 for £800,000.
His first international cap for his adopted country Northern Ireland came in a 3-0 defeat by Germany in March 1999 and he has since made over 80 appearances.
Following Fulham's promotion to the Premier League Taylor's appearances were limited and in August 2003, he joined Birmingham on a year long loan with a view to signing a permanent contract. Steve Bruce decided to make the move permanent earlier signing him in the Janaury window of 2004.
If Laws does bring Taylor to Turf Moor, it automatically begs the question of what this will mean for current number one keeper, Brian Jensen. Jensen is out of contract this summer and is currently discussing terms for a new contract.
Our other keepers, Nicky Weaver, Diego Penny and Jonathan Lund must also be wondering what fate awaits them.
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Your Comments
Gawd surely we can do better than this? Give me Lee Grant anyday, he is only 27. Taylor is a good keeper but surely at 38 he is not going to set the world alight. Good back-up but surely not first choice?
turfmanphil
I think we first need to sort out who will be manager and if we get a decent one, we may be able to attract better players.
sheclaret
The keeper situation is a mess. How much money have we wasted on keeping Weaver on the bench and Penny in limbo? Why did we buy Lund? There is a young keeper called MacDonald on the books too. Someone needs to get a fat grip and quickly
turfmanphil
Agree Tmp and Sc what do we gain by getting someone at the end of there career ? thats it cheap option again, this is what we are going to end up with players past there sell by date and lower league players between 100k and 200k. Is this why Kilby opted for Laws makes me wonder, and the comments from both Kilby and Laws saying we want to bounce straight back to the prem well I'm sorry not with players like that. Come on Kilby shows us you got a backbone sack laws and his merry men and get a manager with quality and build a squad that can get promotion, Kilby stop mouthing to the media and lets see some action.
Fedupclaret
Seriously what is the point of bringing players like this to the club? If we get promoted next season, we will be going to surely have to spend money on another keeper, unless we are going to start playing a 40 year old keeper in the top flight. Look for heavens sake forget about free transfers and cheapos from the lower divisions, get some young (ie below 30) high-quality Championship level players in with the potential to play in the top flight. We are supposed to be stronger now,act like we are!
turfmanphil
You have a top goalkeeper in Nicky Weaver, who is still young and has proved himself on many occasions and I hope that Burnley retain him for next season, he will save you loads of points. forgive the pun.
Buzz Lightyear
I do agree with some of the comments above about signing players who are young and that will be able to do the job should we get promoted. But their needs to be a balance. Not all of the players we sign will cost £Xm or be of this type. For my money, Taylor was one of the better keepers in the Championship last season and I think we could do a lot worse than have him as our number 1 next season. If this allows us to spend the £1.5m we would have spent on a new keeper on buying another striker ( as an example) - this may not be a bad move??? Personally, I would prefer Lee Grant as our number 1 ( as someone mentions above), but this would mean we have £1.5m(ish) less to spend on outfield players. Which would benefit us more?
Claretdale
I agree about the balance thing but at the moment all our links have been on the cheapo and/or lower division side but I will reserve judgement on that until I see our final 2010/11 squad. I look at the keeper situation like this, we need a new one, so lets go for a good one with mileage still left in him whilst being prepared to pay for it. Surely Lee Grant or someone of that ilk is the one we should be going for and then we can decide from the umpteen keepers we already have who will be Number 2. The rest should be released or transfer listed. We surely cant afford four keepers (five if you count MacDonald) on the books in the Championship
turfmanphil
I saw Mcdonald play in the Liverpool reserve game, which was televised on LFC tv or whatever it is called. He sort of reminded me of a mini Beast.
sheclaret
Can't comment on Weaver, BL. Laws never played him even when the Beast was in poor form. It seems like a wasted signing to me unless Laws has plans to retain him for next season and gets him to sign a new contract
turfmanphil
I think Jensen will be more than capable of holding his own in the championship especially if the improvements in defence occur. As Dale says, I think the money would be better spent on outfield players and I also agree with Buzz that Weaver should be given a chance to see what he can do. If the anticipated success comes, then spend on a keeper who can cope in the prem.
WelshClaret
Guess it's difficult to know what is best until we know what plans Laws has in store for Jensen, Weaver, Penny and Lund. Surely though if we are going to buy a keeper to be number one, it would be best to go for someone like Grant. He might now be more of a bargain after relegation to League 1 with Owls, we know he can do a job in the Championship and at 27 will be a good investment for the future as well as being competent in the Prem should we get back up?
turfmanphil
I agree that Taylor, although an excellent keeper, shouldn't be bought as a number one keeper at 38! Grant would fit the bill tmp if we do buy yet another keeper, but how will we ever find out if Weaver,Penny etc can do the job if we don't try them.
WelshClaret
One point I think you are all missing is Laws capable of attracting the players we need to get back into the premier, take the point about Weaver not having the chance to prove himself but we got him in January and the reason we got him because he didn't have a club.
Fedupclaret
Fair point Fedup - and Laws being capable is an entirely different point altogether. I think this summer will probably provide us with a lot of answers.
Claretdale
I'd be happy enough to see Weaver being given a chance. I suppose 38 isn't particularly old for a keeper but surely we can bring in someone with a bit more long term promise.
RickersTwickers
Maybe we should get Marlon Beresford out of retirement? I am in favour of giving Weaver a go, it seems his path has gone astray from being a regular under 21 keeper, I thought he was good at City, here is a snip-it from his wikipeda: On 4 July 2007, out of contract Weaver signed for Charlton Athletic on a free transfer. Following his release from Charlton. Weaver signed for Dundee United on 5 August 2009 on a short-term contract. The United fans took to him instantly and he played in every league match before his contract expiry in early January 2010.
8clarets8
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