Comment: Get Matt Taylor back down the Park

We've probably all gone back to the tried and trusted at some point in our lives.
Former Pompey favourite Matt TaylorFormer Pompey favourite Matt Taylor
Former Pompey favourite Matt Taylor

Maybe we have our own comfortable spot on the sofa or we like to have our morning coffee from the same Paul Merson Pompey mug – mine is now about 14 years old, by the way, and still going strong.

Sadly, those comfy jeans I once liked wearing have, erm, shrunk around the middle region so sometimes those flirtations with our glory days simply aren’t possible any more.

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Anyway, if you are anything like me, you will look on with interest when our Pompey heroes of the past become available again.

Take Matt Taylor, for example.

Those who follow me on Twitter may have seen me make comment about his departure from Burnley and suggest the rumours would start over a return to Fratton Park.

According to other reports, Oxford are interested in him anyway – and League One may be more appealing than League Two.

I was attempting (and probably failing) to raise a smile, but is it really so farfetched?

Would Taylor come back to Pompey?

Would Pompey want him?

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Should we leave our heroes in the glorious past where they belong?

Not so long ago there was a flurry of interest from fans in Svetoslav Todorov coming back to Pompey when he made some noises about wanting to come back.

I’ve also seen comments suggesting Sylvain Distin should be on Paul Cook’s shopping list after his release from Premier League Bournemouth.

In reality, the romantic notion of a hero’s return rarely works out as we hoped.

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Paul Walsh – probably my favourite Pompey player from back in my impressionable youth – was never quite as good when he returned.

Take Guy Whittingham after his Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday adventures.

Or Benjani after his Manchester City and Blackburn detour. Lee Bradbury? Peter Crouch?

Did any of them live up to the reputation they had built before waving goodbye to Fratton Park?

I’m not so sure they did.

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David Norris was another name to be mentioned about a potential Blues return in recent years.

If ever there was an occasion where a footballer should leave his reputation intact at a certain club, then it is him.

How on earth could he ever live up to that magic moment at St Mary’s – one of his last acts in a Pompey shirt?

The truth is, he couldn’t.

Would Taylor, now aged 34, be the same marauding figure down the left flank as he one was?

Probably not.

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But hang on a minute. Would he do a job as an older head in midfield and add some real quality to set-piece delivery and a calming influence on the youngsters?

So ignore all that stuff about not coming back to your old club, Matt. ‘Get him down the Park’…