GRAHAM TAYLOR

I have to mention Graham Taylor who was a working class lad born in Worksop and who made his way through football with an early education at the Old Show Ground, home of Scunthorpe United. 

He was a son of a sports journalist who wrote for the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, so he had the game in his veins. He earned a handful of GCEs and rather than stay in Sixth Form at Scunthorpe Grammar School, he joined Grimsby Town as a full back. Before he left school he played for the English Grammar Schools in the early 1960s signing on for the Mariners in 1962.

His playing career took him to Lincoln City in 1968 totalling nearly 340 professional games (scoring 3 goals!). When he qualified as the youngest known qualified FA Coach, he then became the youngest manager when in 1972 his coaching career began at Lincoln City. The Imps won the 4th Division title in 1976 with a record number of victories.

He then joined Watford and took them from the lowest to the old 1st Division in five years. In 1982-3 Watford were runners up in the First Division, to Liverpool and then FA Cup Finalists, losing to Everton in 1984, a game I watched at a strange hour in New Zealand. In his final season at Watford the team finished 9th in the league and lost to Spurs in the Cup semi-final.

 He developed his reputation at Watford with the support of Elton John's investment but moved to Second Division Aston Villa for a "new challenge" in 1987, winning promotion immediately in 1988 working with hardened pros such as Gordon Cowan and Paul McGrath. He then led Villa to second place in the top flight in 1990 once again behind Liverpool.

In July 1990 he took on Channel 4's Cutting Edge, "The Impossible Job", the managership of England, following on from Bobby Robson. His term in international football was made notorious by the film of the same name. We all know about those three or so years, a period in his life that he bore with considerable dignity (apart from the German linesman incident). It was a difficult time for him and his family no doubt.

After England, Taylor returned to Wolves in 1994 for a year taking them to the First Division play-offs, then rejoined Watford winning the Second Division title and a year later taking them into the Premier League in 2001 where Watford could not survive amongst richer clubs. He then led Villa again until retiring at the end of the 2002-3 season. Over his career he matched Brian Clough and Jim Smith by managing over a 1,000 top flight matches, 750 at Watford. He joined the Watford FC board until 2012, was made an honorary life president and had a stand named after him.

As a pundit he gave much wisdom to televised and radio matches and supported several charities including the Sense National Deaf Blind and Rubella Association. Taylor gave us John Barnes and Luther Blissett, raising them from non league football but of course there were many others who owe their careers to Graham Taylor.