Taylor: Daggers Are A Really Good Club In A Bad Situation

Peter Taylor plans to tap into every contact he has in the game to steady the Dagenham & Redbridge ship.

The East London club are going through their most challenging period in their recent history.

Off-field issues have spilled onto the pitch this summer, with the vast majority of their team leaving for pastures new.

Fans’ favourite Scott Doe was the latest to go, an exodus which included legendary manager John Still. To make matters worse for the supporters, a number of the team followed him to Barnet.

But in Taylor they have hope. As well-respected as they come, he says he will tackle the issues head on. Here is a man not afraid to get his experienced hands dirty.

“I’ve been asked why I have taken this challenge on a few times and I think they best way to describe it is that Dagenham are a really good club in a bit of a bad situation,” he said.

“Nobody wants to be in this situation and there’s something that appeals about being given the chance to get the club out of this sticky situation.

“We’ve lost a number of players and sure, I would think a few people are thinking Dagenham may well struggle.

“But I have been involved in football long enough to know how the game works. If we can be organised then we give ourselves a great chance.

“We’ll be giving it a go, don’t worry about that. We will be competitive, that’s what I can tell the supporters. There is always a spirit developing.

“Spirit will only get you so far, but we think there is a good little group coming together at Dagenham and we don’t think the fact we’ll be a young group should hold them back.

"The situation is well publicised, but we won't be looking for sympathy once the season starts."

Taylor, the former England caretaker manager, added: “I have a good contacts book and that’s often half the battle in football.

“I’m using it. We may need to call in favours from time to time sure, but the aim is to make this team and this club as strong as possible.”

Dagenham begin the National League season at Boreham Wood before back-to-back home games with Maidstone United and Maidenhead.

"We know it will be difficult but we need to give the supporters something to shout about," the former Leicester City manager added.

"Every time we go out there we will be looking to win, but of course we are realistic. Are we going to win every game? No. Win the league? Of course not.

"But slowly we will rebuild and hopefully the fans will be patient with us and we can reward them."