Douglas James-Taylor came to Ireland to escape a place of neglect. A Londoner who travelled where his profession took him, the forward ended up at a dead loss team in a humdrum town, barely used, going nowhere. So, Ireland was not just an escape but an opportunity, somewhere where he could achieve sporting fulfilment, and feel wanted.
And he has done. Look at what he has done so far: 13 games in a Drogheda United shirt, 11 goals. But before we delve deeper into those stats and talk about what we have seen, we need to discuss what he heard.
At a game in July, a fan from an opposing team racially abused him. Taylor told the referee. The game was stopped, an announcement made over the PA.
And that was that. No punishment was dished out. Nothing was ever said about it again.
Read more: Stuart Byrne column: Shels might be rocking but St Pat's defeat can spur them to title glory Read more: Chris Hughton set the ball rolling for 2-Tone Ireland 45 years ago Until now. This is his story. Taylor says: “I think a lot of people were caught off guard.
It was probably a new experience for a lot of people and dealing with it was maybe a new experience. I did a report, said what I heard but they felt like they couldn't take it any further.” It is the only experience he has had of this nature in football.
Beyond the pitch, well, that’s a different story. “I’ve met a few people that..
.” The words tail off, the remainder of the sentence left for our imagination to complete. And you .