Taylor Moore is excited to make a fresh start at Shrewsbury Town under Steve Cotterill after admitting the constant inconsistency and uncertainty over his position at Bristol City over the last six years has made it hard for him to develop as a player.
Moore signed for the Shrews on Monday on a season-long loan, the sixth such spell of his time with the Robins having also taken in Bury, Cheltenham Town, Southend, Blackpool and most-recently Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.
The 25-year-old has made 60 appearances for City, 28 of which in the 2020/21 season under Dean Holden, but that and the first half of the previous campaign with Lee Johnson at the helm are the only times he’s been part of the first-team set-up at Ashton Gate.
Having joined the Shrews squad on their pre-season training camp in Spain, Moore is keen to find a sense of consistency and familiarity in selection in order to progress his career.
“I've had a very, very up and down few years at Bristol and obviously by the end of this loan I'll be out of contract with them but I look back on it with nothing but good memories,” Moore said.
“For any young player, it's about finding your path and finding your journey. I've had a lot of loans, played a bit, came out (the side) a bit, it's just been a very up and down, stop and start. For me it's about finding that stability and consistency on the pitch and sometimes when you're not consistent off the pitch, it affects your performances on it.
“It was a big decision for me, to come here and I need that one year of consistency where I can develop my game and take myself to the next level.
“Bristol City has been a massive part of my life, I signed there when I was 19 years old and I'm 25 now. I know it's not always been the perfect journey but there are a lot of really good people at that club and I wish them nothing but the best.”
Although he is out of contract next summer, City do still hold a 12-month option on his agreement which they could exercise to try and ensure some kind of transfer fee.
Moore and Cotterill never quite crossed paths in BS3, with the defender signed in his teens from Lens by Lee Johnson in the summer of 2016, five months after his predecessor had been sacked. Cotterill still has a place in Bristol and has been a frequent spectator at Ashton Gate and City Under-23 games, whereby Moore undoubtedly first caught his attention.
With previous impressive loan spells at Blackpool and Southend in League One, Moore should prove an astute pick-up for the Shrews as they bid to improve on their 18th-placed finish last season. Moore admits the allure of playing for Cotterill at New Meadow was a major draw for him to make the move up the M5.
“The manager – definitely the manager – and the ambition the club is showing with the signings that they’ve made over the past few weeks just shows the direction that the club wants to go but yeah, it was definitely the manager,” he added to the Shropshire Star.
“Steve Cotterill is someone that I know from Bristol, I’ve met him a lot over the years so I know that the move was something that he’s eyed up and that he’s wanted to get done as quickly as possible but I’m obviously still contracted to Bristol City so it wasn’t as straight-forward.
"I definitely took my time and wanted to make sure I made the right decision but the more time I had, the more I realised that when you’ve got a really good manager like Steve Cotterill and a club that’s showing a lot of ambition and really want you, you’ve got to go.”
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