This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Exeter City manager Matt Taylor is being considered by Charlton Athletic, following the departure of Johnnie Jackson, as per a report from London News Online.
The Addicks, who will be targeting an improvement upon this season's 13th placed finish, are considering a move for the manager who led the Grecians to promotion the third tier.
The former centre-back featured over 150 times for Exeter during his playing career, and two years after he hung up his boots, Taylor took charge of the south west club in 2018.
One name that has also been associated with the vacant managerial position at The Valley is Neil Lennon, with the 50-year-old currently in charge of Cyprus-based club Omonoia Nicosia.
Three of our writers here at FLW have shared their thoughts regarding Charlton's interest in the Exeter boss...
Ben Wignall
Even though Taylor is quite clearly a good manager on the basis of what he's done at Exeter, I'm very conflicted in regards to his suitability for the Charlton job.
Whilst he was always going to get attention due to being a former player, we've seen that this method doesn't always work as when he bagged the permanent job, Johnnie Jackson's results were nowhere near as good as when he was in temporary charge.
And like Jackson, Taylor's main system is a 3-5-2 formation - one which he never seems to deviate from whatsoever - and Charlton fans are longing for the use of wingers as they've got plenty of them in their squad.
Taylor does seem quite suited to Exeter and it may be worth following through on that job rather than taking a big risk and jumping to the Addicks, and for what it's worth I believe there are better candidates out there who are more suited to the task at hand at The Valley.
Carla Devine
Matt Taylor has done a brilliant job with Exeter and it’s no surprise that he is on Charlton’s radar and it would likely be a good appointment.
Taylor has won 94 out of his 213 Exeter games giving him an impressive win rate and the fact he has had them performing well consistently shows he is clearly a good manager with a plan.
After his side’s promotion this year too he has proven he is able to take teams up and he has worked on building a foundation at Exeter which has seen them go up.
Therefore, this would be a good potential appointment for Charlton.
Adam Jones
Something that has been noticeable in the EFL this season is the number of experienced managers that have fallen on their sword in Chris Hughton, Mick McCarthy and Neil Warnock this season.
After going down the more inexperienced route with Johnnie Jackson, some would argue that they need someone with more experience but with Matt Taylor, they would be getting the best of both worlds.
Manager of Exeter for four years now, he has experience under his belt but is only 40 at this stage, so there's still plenty of time for him to improve further. At St James' Park, he has been able to keep standards high and this is why the Addicks could do a lot worse than him.
Looking at some of their other candidates including Steve Kean, Taylor would probably be the better option and he's someone they should definitely look to take under consideration.