When ex-Aston Villa midfielder Ian Taylor looks back on his career, he will know that he lived the dream.
As a child, the 45-year-old was a fixture at Villa Park's Holte End and in 1994 he went from fan to fan favourite when he signed for Aston Villa.
A nine-year career at Villa Park beckoned with Taylor gaining a knack for scoring crucial goals.
The Birmingham-born footballer eventually retired in 2007 but he has continued blazing a trail in a different sense since then.
Taylor, who is Villa's club ambassador, was in studio today to chat to Off The Ball about his time as a club hero and what he's been up to since he quit the game.
"I started off playing non-league football," said Taylor of his unassuming beginnings. "I was working in a warehouse, driving a fork-lift truck and playing part-time football on the weekend. It was quite easy-going and I was making good money. But as I got better and better, teams started watching me."
Thus Taylor left part-time Moor Green and joined Port Vale in 1992. From there he went to Sheffield Wednesday before his childhood club Aston Villa came in for him in 1994. He couldn't say no and it didn't take him long to win the fans' hearts.
"How long did it take me to win the fans over? It was instant because obviously you do all the interviews when you sign and you say you're a Villa fan. My first game was at Highbury against Arsenal and we drew 0 - 0 and then my second game was at Villa Park against Chelsea. I scored in front of the Holte End and that won people over instantly."
As someone who knows the club intimately, he believes a club like Villa should be playing in Europe regularly - if it wasn't for the money-driven nature of the Premier League.
On a lighter note, Taylor also touched on one of the more bizarre signings at Villa - Croatian striker Bosko Balaban who arrived for almost £6 million.
"I know we played a lot of money for him and he wasn't very good. There were times in training when you looked at him and thought 'he's not bad' but come a match and he was a totally different player. But then he left Villa and he was a world beater. Sometimes you have to catch the players at the right time," said Taylor, who contrasted him with Juan Pablo-Angel.
Taylor has now become the Dr Dre of the football world after launching his own range of headphones.
"Initially I went into the football agency game which I really didn't get on with. It's a bit of a murky world and I was working for somebody else. But I wanted to work for myself. Simon Hassell who is the MD is a big Villa fan and he coincided his business trip with a pre-season tour to Hong Kong. He came to one of the events that I did [as club ambassador] and we just got talking and he said he wanted to launch this premium brand of headphones and was I interested? I said yeah and I even drew the logo which took about an hour. We've been going for a couple of years," said Taylor.
Success has followed and Taylor's iT7 headphones were sported by the England squad with Wayne Rooney a particular fan. The England team for the Ashes and the X Factor are also converts.
But none can match Ireland legend Paul McGrath according to Taylor who met up with the former defender while in Dublin.
"He's called God where we come from. Every time he comes over, he is mobbed like he is here. He's held in very high esteem at Aston Villa."
Listen to the full interview via the Off The Ball Football Show podcast,
