Matt Taylor: Manager of the Month award for Exeter City boss in April
- Published
Matt Taylor celebrated promotion at the end of his fourth season as Exeter City manager
Exeter City manager Matt Taylor says the form that saw him named League Two Manager of the Month for April set up his side's promotion to League One.
Taylor, who also won the award in February, led City to 16 points from seven matches as the Grecians missed out on the title to Forest Green Rovers on goal difference on the final day.
It is the fourth time he has won the award since taking charge in June 2018.
"I'm really pleased to win the award in the most important month," Taylor said.
"April was the month we knew that if we got it right in terms of results and points gained, we'd put ourselves in a fantastic position, and that obviously happened," he told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport.
"It's a shame it didn't quite work out at the end for us in terms of the title.
"But we only lost out on the title on goal difference - same wins, same draws, same losses as Forest Green, its just seven goals different."
Taylor was part of Exeter's team when they last won promotion to League One in 2009, but said doing it as a manager outweighed the achievement playing as a centre-back.
"It means an awful lot more as manager," he added.
"Your exertions as a player are physical and you don't have to overthink your game too much, and it's quite a simple job as a player - or it was a simple job for myself when we got promoted.
"But as a manager you are the person that gets judged no matter what every weekend.
"You get judged on a daily basis, everyone's got an opinion about football, everyone believes their opinion is the right opinion so you've got to stay strong in your own beliefs and your desire to build another group of players capable of getting promoted out of this league.
"One thing that doesn't get spoken about enough is how players want to play for us, they want to be at this football club.
"They enjoy their time, they speak fantastically well about the environment and whilst the promotion is the biggest recognition and the biggest achievement, the fact that every single player recognises what we've done in terms of creating an environment is a proud thing as a football manger and makes me so proud of the football staff we've got here."