WHEN Ray Parlour, under duress from then England boss Glenn Hoddle, reluctantly took a seat on faith healer Eileen Drewery’s couch, the former Middlesbrough star famously asked for . . . a short back and sides. A few years later, after basketball coach-cum-sports psychologist Bill Beswick marked his appointment as the Teessiders’ assistant manager by describing himself as a “stretch, not a shrink”, he would soon be held responsible for spoon-feeding Steve McClaren with his trademark psycho-babble. Back then, such was the lot of a shrink – sorry, stretch – in football’s narrow corridors. The times, though, they are a changin’. After last season (and the start of this) Andrew Taylor is not so much Boro starlet as bona fide Premier League performer, an England Under-21 international with maturity beyond his 21 years. Though less heralded, he was the new David Wheater. Before David Wheater. Then though, injury struck. Injury – Plantar Fasciitis, or a sore heel to you and me – that proved, after three injections, mysteriously difficult to shake. Finally, surgery looks to have done the job. But it has also left a hole in Taylor’s foot and, though he is now jogging without pain, experts are unable to predict a likely return date. Sitting on the sidelines injured while team-mates – mates even – crack on, is the most frustrating aspect of life as a professional footballer, but to Taylor’s credit he is winning the mind games . . . And was already taking them on, pre-injury, thanks to a specialist in personal development. “I’m quite into that side of the game, I work with a bloke called Tony Wilson who has his own firm called ‘Lifestyle Architecture’,” Taylor revealed. “He’s from Hartlepool, and someone I’d done a bit of work with mentally before my injury. It’s not rocket science, or putting me under (hypnosis). We just sit and have a chat and a cup of tea. “It’s about focusing your mind, not dwelling on mistakes but looking forward. I’ve had a good season or so in the first team and it’s helped keep that going.” Until injury. “I am getting there but it is frustrating,” he said. “It turned from being a problem of a week or two, two-and-a-half months ago after the Bolton game, to one that’s still going on. Grant (Downie, club physio) has been brilliant but there’s no timescale, nobody can say ‘You’ll be right in six weeks’. “It’s just a case of building up steadily and seeing how far I can go. It’s not a common football injury, like a knee or ankle. It’s an unusual injury, and a case of how long my body takes to deal with it. “I’ve had a big lump of calcification and scar tissue taken out of my foot, which has left a hole. “That’s inflamed now and needs to settle down, but now hopefully the actual cause of the problem has gone and it’s a bit of a guessing game, a case of wait and see. It’s frustrating but just something I’ve got to be patient with. “It’s hard being injured, seeing the lads on the training ground while I’m stuck in the gym. Normally there’s a couple of players injured so you’ve got some company – but there’s not really been anyone else, so you just have to get your head down and get on with it. “Footballers are selfish, you do think about yourself. But you also want the team to do well and I’m happy that we have been. It’s nice for Emanuel (Pogatetz) too because he was out with a bad injury, then came back just as I got injured. “The timing worked well, you want that competition for places. I wouldn’t expect to be straight back in the side.” And now that Boro have started to climb the table, nor will he when he is fit again. “At the start of the season we had a few injuries, there were the usual ins and outs so the defence wasn’t settled,” said Taylor. “From about Christmas we’ve had a settled back four, like last season, and that helps. The full-backs are solid, you know what you’re going to get. “David Wheater is playing out of his skin, Robert Huth has come back and done really well, Emanuel’s best position is actually central and there’s Chris Riggott, who’s a top Premier League player. “So there’s plenty of cover and losing Jonathan Woodgate was not such a big blow. Both he and the manager had their reasons for him leaving. He’s world class, one of the best defenders England have got – but we’ve still got great players here.” Taylor too, soon enough. | 
