Loan moves for young players are a football education, and that is exactly what Connor Taylor received at Bristol Rovers. The talismanic centre-half now has full faith in himself to stake a claim at Stoke City.
The 20-year-old was a heroic presence in Joey Barton's team throughout the season, aerially dominant, defensively astute and chipping in with three goals of huge importance in the context of Rovers' promotion.
Taylor was named the club's young player of the year as a reward for his impressive performances across 47 games this season, and he believes the experiences of a memorable season with the Gas have taught him so much for when he returns to his parent club in pre-season.
"Coming here has made me realise what first-team football is all about," he told BBC Radio Stoke. "You won’t get a promotion every year so you’ve got to enjoy this, but I fully believe in myself to come back (to Stoke), whenever I do, and stake a claim.
"I’ve been fully concentrated on Bristol Rovers but from what I’ve seen there have been lots of positives and plenty of young players being given a chance, so it can only be a positive thing.
"The main thing was the responsibility I’ve been given. I’ve not played alongside someone who has played hundreds of games all season. It’s just been me and a fellow 20-year-old.
"I’ve had to have the responsibility of being a leader back there for the team and I’ve had to learn on the job without someone experienced alongside me. That can only help me.
"On a personal level, it’s helped me massively. I’ve been surrounded by experienced people, people that have played at the top level like Glenn Whelan and Paul Coutts. I’ve learned lots off them and it’s been a surreal experience."
Whelan remains a fond favourite with Stoke fans after making almost 300 Premier League appearances for the club. A young Taylor watched Whelan from the stands at the bet365 Stadium and the defender says the 38-year-old's wisdom has been an invaluable resource.
"It’s just his character. Every day in training, he’s the first one on the training pitch and the last one to leave. He trains like every day is his last and you can go up and speak to him if you need any advice," he added.
"He’s been absolutely brilliant for me. We’ll have conversations at dinner and speak to him about when how I used to watch him as a kid and stuff like that. It’s been good to have those conversations."
Taylor was one of the stars of a remarkable final day on Saturday, scoring Rovers' second goal en route to a 7-0 bashing of Scunthorpe United to sneak the final automatic promotion place on goals scored.
The result completed an incredible turnaround for Barton and his players, riding an unstoppable wave of momentum all the way to League One.
"It’s not really sunk in yet," Taylor admitted as he and the players enjoy an end-of-season trip to Dubai. "From start to finish, it’s been an unbelievable experience. I’ve experienced all the highs and lows of football. At the start of the season, we were really struggling and on January 1 we were 17th in the league. To get automatic promotion, it’s just unbelievable.
"We were going into the game knowing we were likely going to need a hand from Barrow against Northampton, but all we were focusing on was winning the game of football and seeing what happened with that result.
"At half time, we were 2-0 up and we knew they were 3-1 up so we were going to need seven. It was a relaxed feel at half time because we knew we could go out in the second half with nothing to lose.
"We’ve got numerous quality players in the squad, so as soon as we got one early in the second half we fully believed that if we kept the backdoor shut we had the forward players to score whatever we want. It turned out to be that seven was enough.
"We were 4-0 up with about half an hour to play. We were looking at the clock thinking we had plenty of time because they were backs to the wall, the crowd was right behind us and we looked at the clock and told everyone to relax and if we carried on playing as we had done since the turn of the year, we’d get chances. Luckily we had plenty of them and we stuck them in the back of the net.
"The atmosphere was unbelievable. We were all gobsmacked really. We just couldn’t believe what we'd done. It can’t have ever happened before to win 7-0 on the final day of the season to get promoted".
Those memories will doubtless last a lifetime, but Taylor had something else in mind for his standout moment of the season, choosing the day of his first professional goal, the 2-1 win at Walsall in September. That's not for selfish reasons, but the injection of confidence it gave the team after a difficult start to the season.
He explained: "At the time I think we were 22nd in League Two and we were desperate for a win. I scored in the 80th minute to equalise and we won it in the last minute of the game.
"That was a real turning point in the season because the side was pretty low on confidence at the time and we needed something to drop for us. That was me helping us to win the game and it was a big moment for the club."
Barton's influence on a young squad has been sizable and it is hugely impressive the manager has built a promotion-winning side on a defence with two 20-year-olds – Taylor and James Connolly – and 19-year-old Luca Hoole.
Taylor has loved being part of the culture created by the manager.
"Whenever you play, he thoroughly believes you’re more than capable of doing the job," he said. "He makes it really clear what he wants from you and anything else you do is a bonus. He lets you go out there with freedom to enjoy your football because that’s the main thing about it. You’ve got to enjoy it."
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