Taylor – The Club Is Bigger Than Anything

Neil Taylor has stated that the fans have been brilliant to him since he signed his new contract in the summer

Taylor was looking set for the Liberty Stadium exit door as discussions, rumours and speculation made it look like he was on his way to Newcastle after they matched a clause that allowed him to talk to them.

But the move never materialised and Taylor signed a new deal before making his Premier League debut last weekend against Wigan.

“It was a weird summer, a lot of things were being written and said without much actually going on.

“And it took a while to speak to the club, get in touch with the gaffer and get things sorted – but in the end it was wrapped up how we all wanted.

“But I think it shows the media at this level can hype things up and you have to deal with that.

“I knew it could affect the fans, but the reaction after I signed was great, with people saying they were glad I stayed and being very warm to me – which is all I’ve ever had here.

“But I’d be lying if you said that it wouldn’t bother you if they had thought differently about it all because it does cross your mind.

“I just hoped that once it was done and dusted and we got on with the football it would blow over.

“Because there’s bigger things than me at Swansea City. The club is bigger than anything, I’m just one player.

“I’d spoken to the manager on numerous occasions and we knew the situation,” he said. “We spoke before we started back and cleared everything up. We knew we wanted a deal to be done and, although it took a little while, eventually it was.

“But beforehand we’d agreed to keep everything under wraps and not have things coming out even though talks were on-going. We just felt it was best to get on with things.

“Of course, things were being written and I wanted to come out and say ‘that’s not true’ but I made sure I just worried about myself at that point and then make a statement when we signed to clear things up.

“I knew I was happy here last year and there was no need for me to change that fact. The bid released the clause for me to talk, but we wanted to get a deal done here and we did.

“It was a relief when we did because it had been a long summer.

“But Brendan had made sure I knew I was part of his plans and I want to repay that faith because there are exciting times ahead for the club.

“We’ve already seen big differences in terms of the physical and mental side of things,” he said. “And it’s obvious you have to take your chances at this level because teams will hurt you if you don’t.

“But we have given good accounts of ourselves so far and we’re ready to build on that.

“We really feel this can be a good season and, while we know everything will be analysed and scrutinised and that there well be criticism, we will just keep ourselves to ourselves and continue our work.

“Morale is very high and – although Tuesday at Shrewsbury was disappointing – we have bounced back from defeats straight away plenty of times.

“People said last year we always seems to be up for the big games.

“That’s great because this year every game is a big game.”