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On the pitch, he's a towering centre-back confident with the ball at his feet and quick to join in celebrations with supporters.

Off of it and Richard Taylor is shy, unassuming and far from the first to volunteer for press duties at St Mirren.

While his football abilities are developing, his confidence is also growing in day-to-day life as a result of his genuinely life-changing move to Paisley.

“This is the happiest I’ve been in my career, by miles," said the centre-back after the UEFA Conference League defeat to SK Brann. "By miles and miles and miles. I’ve never been happier.

“I wouldn’t say I’m the most confident lad, but the difference shows since I’ve come here. This is what happiness does for you.

“I feel like I’ve grown at St Mirren, grown a lot under the manager. The lads were so welcoming from the start, they help new players settle so quickly.

"We all learn from each other – not just from the experienced lads, but from the young ones as well. Everyone has something to give."

Just 23, Taylor has already turned out for eight clubs in his fledgling career but few environments can compare to the camaraderie he has discovered in Scotland.

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“The togetherness we have is inexplicable, it’s unimaginable," said the former Burnley youth prospect. "Such a bunch of positive lads. On Thursday we lost, on Friday we were ready to go again. Heads up, move on.

“This place is so special, the dressing room is incredible. There’s no leader, because we’re all leaders. It’s hard to explain if you’re not in there, but [slaps his hands to the badge] it has such a special place in my heart.

“We’ll do anything for each other, we’d die for each other. You saw that in Norway, we tried everything for each other and it just wasn’t quite enough.

“We care about each other – so, like, when the manager takes me off and brings Alex Iacovitti on in my place, then Alex scores right away, I’m up off the bench and on the pitch celebrating with him, because that’s how we are.

“We’re all friends, we’re practically family. And we all want the best for each other.

“None of us stay too far away from each other, so we get to spend a fair bit of time together away from football, which has helped build the relationships we have."

Taylor and his team-mates now refocus on domestic efforts after their European adventure and target a third top-six finish and progress in the cup competitions, beginning against Dundee United.

He said: “It’s been exciting, but what can I say? Onto the league, the cup, the season and hopefully we finish even higher than last time.

“We’ve got a big game now and we have to respect United, but we have to go there and show them what we’ve got.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Robinson called out the SPFL over scheduling as St Mirren face another travel day to Dundee United having been in Aberdeen last Sunday and then Norway in midweek.

And the Paisley boss admitted he will be forced to made a host of changes due to the severity of the fixture schedule.

“The Dundee United game is just as important to me because we want to get to the next round of the cup," said Robinson. “The timing of it means we got back on Friday afternoon and will have one day to prepare for it. The timing’s not brilliant.

“The SPFL in their wisdom have given us plenty of travelling to do in between the European games. The Norwegian FA gave them the week off.

“It’s a massively important game but there will be a much-changed line-up because we have to with injuries.

“Caolan Boyd-Munce looks like he is struggling with a hamstring. Fraser Taylor has stitches in his leg. Dennis [Adeniran] took a knock early-on."