Charlton striker Lyle Taylor: I had pure hatred after being released by Millwall – it was my motivation

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lyle Taylor says that his driving motivation until the age of 25 was to prove a point to the person who released him at Millwall.

The striker has been a huge hit at AFC Wimbledon and Charlton.

And Taylor, talking in the Addicks’ matchday programme for today’s Championship game against Blackburn Rovers, says that rejection by the Lions hit him hard.

“At that point I hated football,” he said. “But since then, the person who released me has told me how well I’ve done and commended me on how well I’ve done.

“It was my motivator until I was about 25. Then when I was told ‘fair play, you’ve done really well for yourself’ it was like: “What’s my motivation now?’

“I won’t shy away from it, it had been pure hatred for that individual that pushed me on.

“Rightly or wrongly, that’s what I used to get to where I got to and then everything kind of changed for me when I went to Wimbledon and I was given free reign.

“It’s similar to how it is here for me. Within the construct of the team, you have free reign to do what you have to do to get us success. And it works for me. Do I push those boundaries sometimes? Yes, I do push the boundaries. But I’d like to think when it came down to it, I still did my job and I still did my bit for the team.

“But Lee Bowyer isn’t one to let you take the mick. If you do go too far, you get pulled up by him very, very quickly.”