Graham Taylor: Former Manager With Brillant Football Brain

Graham Taylor served as an English football player, manager, pundit, and chairman. He was England’s manager from 1990 to 1993. Aston Villa, Watford, and Lincoln City were three great English clubs managed by Graham Taylor during the post-war era.

Afterward, he served as England’s national team manager before returning to club management with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Watford, and Aston Villa.

Graham Taylor’s Early Childhood

The son of Tom Taylor, a reporter who covered the fortunes of Scunthorpe United for the local evening paper, Graham Taylor grew up in Scunthorpe. After passing the eleven plus test, Taylor continued his education at Scunthorpe Grammar School.

After attending FA Schools Week in 1961 and 1962, he was selected to play for the FA Schools XI against Scotland U18 Schools.

After leaving school, he joined Grimsby Town in September 1963, where he instantly became a mainstay at left-back. As a Mariners player, he made over 200 appearances but began planning his life after the game. At just 21 years old, he achieved his FA Preliminary Coaching Award. He is the youngest recipient of this award.

Playing For Lincoln City

He signed for neighbors Lincoln City in 1968 and was appointed club captain. Graham, who made his debut as a defender at Sincil Bank in 1968-69, proved to be a sound and thoughtful defender.

Under manager Ron Gray’s guidance and the opportunity for senior players to discuss any issues on the field, he quickly formed a successful partnership with George Peden at full-back. Several members of that team managed or coached at a higher level, including Graham, Billy Taylor, Jim Smith, and Ray Harford.

With the Imps, Graham Taylor made over 150 appearances. Despite this, he suffered from niggling injuries and was among several highly critical players of manager David Herd. In the opinion of one director, Taylor is a “militant.”

Although he was a City player at the time, he helped out coaching local teams, and from January 1970, he coached Lincoln City School Old Boys in the Lincolnshire League. After Herd left in December 1972, he took the opportunity to become the Football League’s youngest manager, aged 28.

Graham Taylor Becoming A Manager

It took him a long time to establish his managerial career. Graham Taylor lost his first game in charge against Boston in the Lincolnshire Cup, and the Imps drew five of their next six games and lost one.

Then, in February, Terry Branston’s late strike against Darlington gave him his first victory, ending an 18-game winning drought that dated back to October. He finished the following season with a mid-table finish, but the results of his work over the next three years made him stand out as a promising young manager.

The Imps pounded the opposition into submission with a high-powered version of the long ball game. A team built around a tall, powerful defense, tricky wingers, and hard-running strikers often seemed to confuse opposing defenders because the strikers crossed each other’s paths as the ball was played forward.

They were physically strong and fit, undoubtedly aided by the fact that they trained in the mornings and afternoons. Also, they were a conscientious group, seldom losing concentration and determined to achieve victory.

During 1974-1977, Sincil Bank was virtually impenetrable for visiting teams with just three defeats in 69 matches. However, the 1974-75 season ended in disappointment.

The Imps missed promotion due to a narrow goal average margin after losing 3-2 at Southport to drop below Chester in the final match. Virtually the same squad achieved record-breaking success in 1975-76.

The team’s 74 points were a record for a Football League team under two points for a win and established Division four records for the highest number of victories and lowest number of defeats in a season. This is the first time in over a decade that a Football League team has scored more than a hundred goals in a season (111 goals).

Sincil Bank’s Graham Taylor spent one more season with a creditable ninth-place finish in Division Three in 1976-77 before moving to Watford Football Club. His legacy for the Imps is that he has helped bring three young players from Wearside to the club, including Mick Harford, who qualified for two full England appearances during the 1980s.

Changed The Way Of Managing

The Sincil Bank player’s success went beyond his performance on the pitch. Many players were unhappy with the previous regime, and there were only minimal structures in place when he took over. He presented the board with a six-page document describing how he planned to fix the situation soon after being appointed manager.

The document covers many aspects of the club as well as his vision for how he will deal with its players, such as this: “I want to treat the players like human beings first, and players second.”

Lincoln City ought to have a squad of players and ambassadors that will make the club proud. To achieve this, they must be treated as adults, even if on occasion they may slip from these standards.”

Several off-the-field structures were reorganized entirely by him. This was the first time a scouting set-up had been used. The club managed injuries more efficiently (previously, it held no information about players’ medical records). It also implemented an updated youth policy.

The Imps entered the Northern Intermediate League for the first time, and Sheffield Rangers, a junior club in Sheffield, became the Imps’ nursery club. Visits to local factories exposed the players to the working conditions of the fans who paid to watch them.

Consequently, it helped create a community atmosphere around the club and a bond between players and fans.

Lincoln had decided that Graham Taylor would not be retained by the summer of 1977. The West Bromwich Albion approach was rejected in favor of a move to Watford. Lincoln was in a higher division than Watford.

However, by the end of five seasons, the club had reached the Top Division, finished as runners-up in 1982-83, and FA Cup finalists the following year, all with the backing of chairman Elton John. In his first season with Aston Villa, he returned them to the top flight, and two years later, he finished runners-up in the Premier League.

Graham Taylor Becoming England Manager

In July 1990, he was appointed manager of England following his successes on the pitch. However, while he started his career well, he only lost one match out of 23 and failed to qualify for the 1994 Soccer World Cup finals, which led to his departure in November 1993.

At this point, he was a hate figure for the tabloid press, perhaps more indicative of the growing trend towards controversy amongst this media sector as they strived to gain more readers.

Before becoming a media pundit on radio and television, wolves, Watford, and Aston Villa were the following clubs that he managed.

On Thursday, 12 January 2017, Graham Taylor passed away suddenly. He should be remembered above all as an honest, thoughtful, and decent man, both as a player and as a manager. Without him, the game would be worse off.

To discover more about Graham Taylor, check out Graham Taylor In His Own Words: The Autobiography.

The football manager was an important figure for football fans growing up during the 1980s, as his brilliance oversaw the relative success of a midsize Hertfordshire club that was unfashionable at the time.

Graham Taylor Facts And Figures

Full Name: Graham Taylor
Birthdate: 15/09/1944
Birthplace: Worksop, England

Playing Career:

• Grimsby Town 1962–1968
• Lincoln City 1968–1972

Total Appearances: 339 matches, 3 goals

Managerial Career:

• Lincoln City 1972–1977
• Watford 1977–1987
• Aston Villa 1987–1990
• England National Team 1990–1993
• Wolverhampton Wanderers 1994–1995
• Watford 1996
• Watford 1997–2001
• Aston Villa 2002–2003

Managerial Honors:

Lincoln City

• 1975–76: Football League Fourth Division Champions

Watford

• 1977–78: Football League Fourth Division Champions
• 1983–84: FA Cup runner-up
• 1997–98: Football League Division Two Champions
• 1998–99: Football League Division One play-offs