FEATURE: Swindon Town's Matt Taylor talks career development and post-retirement plans

At the end of Swindon Town's 1-0 win over Mansfield Town at the weekend, Matt Taylor spoke to Benjamin Wills of Total Sport about how he has adapted his career and his retirement plans.

After beginning his journey in the bottom two professional divisions with Luton Town at 18, Taylor has now gone full circle in his 19-year career and finds himself back in League Two with Swindon Town after a prolonged period with Premier League clubs Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham United.

On Saturday, the 37-year-old capped off a quick, counter-attacking move with a rifled finish into the bottom corner to give Swindon a 1-0 win against Mansfield Town in a promotion clash.

At full-time, during his media duties, he laughed at his involvement in a swift move, but Taylor is a man adapting his lifestyle in a considered way, as his career enters its twilight years.

Age is just a number, it would seem, and more impressive numbers come in the shape of his assists and goal tallies for the season, which stand at nine and three respectively in the league.

Taylor leads the League Two assist chart as George Cooper, also with nine, departed Crewe for League One Peterborough in January.

The cliche with an experienced player that is still going strong is that they are ageing like a fine wine. For Taylor, some part of the success is due to wine, or the right amount of it, anyway.

"Managing your training load is vitally important," he says. "You can't do this game if you're not physically fit, and you can't be physically fit if you abuse your body, so therefore, it's about doing things in moderation, shall we say.

"Enjoy the odd glass of wine instead of 10 or 11 beers - that's the brutal facts of it. I'll go home tonight, have a glass of wine, some dinner and go to bed! That's the way it's got to be."

As the career winds down, however, Taylor is preparing himself for life after football. He is only contracted at Swindon until the end of the season and, while his playing days are the focus right now, there is an active interest in life after football. He will never be too far away from a pitch though.

"I've done my coaching badges, I'm currently on the pro license so that's the plan, but it's finding time to fit it all in which is tough because my main focus on the moment is playing but I'm not going to continue playing forever.

"You have to make plans for after you career finishes. I've spoken to lots of players that have recently finished and I didn't want to be one of these players that wasn't prepared for life after football.

"That's vitally important to me, I'm a very energetic person, I couldn't wake up in the morning and have no purpose so I've taken time out of my life the last seven or eight years to complete my coaching badges with the FA and I'm really enjoying it."

By Benjamin Wills