I've put this here (and not Wolves) because the thought came to me while watching 'The Impossible Job' via Zoom with a mate the other day. Also, if it comes to Wolves, it's not really much of a debate!
Graham Taylor (1944-2017)
Graham Taylor, OBE was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln City, Watford, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Taylor grew up in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, which he regarded as his hometown. The son of a sports journalist who worked on the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, Taylor found his love of football in the stands of the Old Show Ground watching Scunthorpe United. He became a player, playing at full back for Grimsby Town and Lincoln City.
After retiring as a player through injury in 1972, Taylor became a manager and coach. He won the Fourth Division title with Lincoln in 1976, before moving to Watford in 1977. He took Watford from the Fourth Division to the First in five years. Under Taylor, Watford were First Division runners-up in 1982–83, and FA Cup finalists in 1984. Taylor took over at Aston Villa in 1987, leading the club to promotion in 1988 and 2nd place in the First Division in 1989–90.
In July 1990, he became the manager of the England team. England qualified for the 1992 European Championships, but were knocked out in the group stages. Taylor resigned in November 1993, after England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. Taylor faced heavy criticism from fans and media during his tenure as an England manager and earned additional public interest and scrutiny when a television documentary which he had permitted to film the failed campaign from behind the scenes, An Impossible Job, aired in 1994.
Taylor returned to club management in March 1994 with Wolverhampton Wanderers. After one season at Molineux, he returned to Watford, and led the club to the Premier League in 1999 after back-to-back promotions. His last managerial role was manager of Aston Villa, to which he returned in 2002. He left at the end of the 2002–03 season. Taylor served as Watford's chairman from 2009 until 2012 where he continued to hold the position of honorary life-president. He also worked as a pundit for BBC Radio Five Live.
Now for me, Wolves aside, his club record is almost unimpeachable:
Lincoln promoted from 4 to 3 with a points record under the old 2 ppg.
Took Watford from 4 to 1 reaching the 1984 FA Cup final and reaching the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup.
Took Villa from Division 2 to a 2nd place finish in Division 1 in 89/90 finishing 9 points behind Liverpool.
Took Watford from League 2 to Prem.
It's remarkable stuff really and worthy of high praise. I think history has unfairly dismissed him as a long ball merchant and whilst his teams certainly had a set way of playing they could also be very entertaining to watch. Indeed, when watching recent re-runs of 'The Big Match' it was clear that Taylor wasn't exactly alone at that time in bypassing midfield. Also, he was clearly a very effective man-manager and someone who had the respect and even love of many of the people he came into contact with. Then there's England...
My assessment of his period with England was always that he simply wasn't up to the level but he also had a small pool of talent to choose from. He lost Shearer for a long time to injury and had Gazza during his inconsistent Lazio period - after his 1990 peak and before his Rangers renaissance. That said, a simple look around the dressing room during 'The Impossible Job' tells a very different story. These are some of the players that featured:
Martyn, Flowers, Seaman, Woods
Parker, Dixon, Pallister, Adams, Pearce, Keown, Dorigo, Wright, Jones
Platt, Barnes, Gascoigne, Merson, Batty, Webb, Steven, Ince, Sharpe
Wright, Sheringham, Ferdinand
Every 5 minutes watching the documentary I was like 'Shit! We had him?!' This is before we even get into the the players he dumped such as Beardsley, Waddle and Lineker although to be fair the latter's time may have been up anyway. It shouldn't have been beyond a decent coach to get these players to the 1994 World Cup.
My own views are that whilst a brilliant club manager he struggled with England because:
1. Too loyal to players. He kept faith with Walker when chronically out of form and with Barnes who only rarely produced club form for England. He also picked Gazza at times when he clearly wasn't fit. See also: every England manager ever.
2. He was clearly someone who enjoyed working with players and just didn't get the time you have at clubs. He employed 3 at the back v Norway with about 2 days to prep and admitted this was a bad call afterwards.
3. Taylor built 'teams' during his club career. There were no stars, no big signings - just a well drilled and motivated group of players. I wonder now how comfortable he was managing players of the highest ability. He'd often choose the players listed above but too often they were jettisoned for B level talent like Palmer, Barrett, Bardsley and Sinton.
Thoughts?
