This sum equalled the Club-record fee spent on Darren Eadie six months earlier but it was to rise to £3.4M due to appearance related instalments.
Bromsgrove-born Gary started his professional career at Cambridge United in 1991. Although he didn’t play in the side defeated by Leicester City in the 1992 play-off semi-final matches for a place in the Premier League, he made 82 appearances for the U’s playing alongside future Leicester City players Steve Claridge, Lee Philpott and Dion Dublin.
Gary’s £200,000 move to Everton in March 1994 was not a success and after spending the latter part of that season on loan at second-tier Blackpool, he moved to Derby County in July 1995 in a part-exchange deal which took Craig Short to Goodison Park.
He was in the Rams side which was promoted to the Premier League in 1996 and spent the next two years playing in the top flight before moving to Birmingham City in August 1998. He spent two years at St. Andrew's in a side which reached the play-off semi finals in 1999 and again in 2000, just prior to his move to Filbert Street where he stayed for two seasons.
He was an ever-present in his first season at Leicester City, playing in a side which was still fourth in the Premier League as late as March 2001 before a dramatic slump saw Taylor’s side drop to a final position of 13th. Due to a serious knee injury, he missed most of his second season at Filbert Street when the Club was relegated.
In May 2002, Gary moved to Premier League Charlton Athletic for £2.5M. His two years at the Valley were once again bedevilled by his knee injury. He then had two seasons playing in the Conference for Burton Albion.
Gary went on to manage three of his former clubs. He took Burton Albion to two League Two Play-Offs, oversaw marked improvements at Birmingham City in the Championship and took Derby County to the Championship Play-Offs in 2018, before moving to Stoke City. He is currently manager at Millwall.