Graham Taylor
Former England, Watford, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Linclon City Manager Graham returned to his beloved Watford as Non Executive Director in January 2009. He is one of the most well respected and well-known faces in English football and it was his vision and hard work that prompted the formation of the League Managers Association during his spell as national team boss. Graham is one of a very small number of people to have clocked up over 1000 games as a Manager.
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Grahams Management career started with Lincoln City after he was forced to retire from playing due to injury. He had played for Grimsby for six years before moving to Lincoln in 1968, taking up the managerial reins in 1972 aged just 28. In 1975/76 he led them to the Fourth Division Championship with the team scoring a record breaking 111 goals. He then dropped down to Division 4 with a move to Watford after being inspired by their vision for the club.
Watford were promoted as Champions in his first season in charge and they went on to win promotion to Division Two the following season. He then took the Hornets into the First Division for the first time in their history in 1981/82 season. The next season, 1982/83, saw them finish second in the league behind Liverpool, earning them a place in the UEFA Cup, Graham had totally transformed the club in the space of five years. In 1984 he led them to the FA Cup Final , eventually losing out to Everton at Wembley.
Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis recognised Taylor’s obvious abilities and after guiding Watford to top-half finishes in the league for the next three seasons, Taylor decided to take up a new challenge at Villa Park with a club that had just been relegated from the top division. He immediately returned the club to Division One and after keeping Villa up the following season, just, he was again beaten to the league title by Liverpool.
After the 1990 World Cup, where Bobby Robson had led the team to the semi-finals, Graham was given the honour of managing England. Like many before him, he was to find the England manager’s post something of a poisoned chalice and despite an encouraging start to his international career, England’s poor performance in the 1992 European Championships and subsequent failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup led to his resignation.
He returned to management with Wolves and was unlucky to miss out on promotion after taking them into the play-offs after just two months at the helm. Graham returned to Vicarage Road in February 1996 but was unable to prevent them being relegated to Division Two. However, he was able to rebuild the team once again and he led The Hornets back to Division One in 1997/98 and achieved a successive promotion with a dramatic play-off win in 1998/99, taking Watford into the top division once more. Watford were relegated back to Division One after j ust one season, Graham stayed for a further year, serving his 1000th league game as a manager in January 2001, before handing the reins over to Gianluca Vialli and retiring from club management.
He remained in ‘retirement’ for just 8 months and having returned to Aston Villa as a non-executive director, he resumed his role as Villa boss for one last stint in the hot-seat for one more season before resigning from his post.
Graham is now a respected media pundit working for BBC Radio 5 Live.
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Managerial Honours:
- Watford: Nationwide Football League Division Two Champions (1997-98)
- Watford: Football League Division Four Champions (1977-78)
- Lincoln City: Football League Division Four Champions (1975-76)
- Watford: Manager of the Month, Coca-Cola Championship, October 2000
- Watford: Manager of the Month, Coca-Cola Championship, September 2000
