Matt Taylor: Downtime just the tonic
Matt Taylor took advantage of some time off this week and went back to being ‘Matt the dad and husband’ rather than the Shrewsbury Town boss.
Following his side’s progression to the third round of the FA Cup after a superb win at Notts County – the Shrewsbury players and staff were given three days off.
They reported back for training on Tuesday, but after an incredibly busy few weeks with lots of travelling, Taylor spoke about the importance of switching off.
“On Sunday, I went out for a birthday dinner, as I had not had the chance to do that,” he said.
“I went out with all my family; parents, sister and all the kids that was really nice actually.
“I took my wife out for dinner on Saturday night, and I took my daughter to an appointment during the day, and then on Monday, I spent my day watching Wycombe Wanderers and going through everything.
“I suppose that was not really a day off as such, but it more a case of doing the usual stuff people do that you don’t get a chance to do and being dad.
“There was a lot of washing involved, and hoovering, all the stuff that normal people do on a daily basis, but I took a bit of pressure off my wife as she does everything. So it was pretty mundane.”
Taylor is relatively inexperienced in football manager terms, and despite having an illustrious playing career, he is still mastering the art of switching off when he goes home.
“You need it. Sometimes as a manager and as a coach, sometimes it is nice to be ‘Matt’,” he continued while speaking ahead of Town’s clash with Wycombe today.
“This job is unbelievable, but sometimes it is just nice to go home and be dad, and husband and just take your wife out for dinner and nobody asks you about football.
“Sometimes that is nice, I actually found that as a player too.
“You constantly talk about football, so for me to be able to switch off for a few hours. It helps the staff as well and it helps the players.
“I said this at the beginning of the season when I got the job, we are going to spend the next 10 months together so one thing you have to do is smile and have a laugh, but secondly don’t come away from the fact that, while we are extremely committed to our jobs, there are other sides to peoples lives as well that I don’t want people to neglect.
“Those relationships are so important. This is me talking having done a lot of my learning
“To be successful sometimes you just have to be able to switch off. It is not easy, I have not mastered it yet.”
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