Bosses hail Taylor, the old-school king
GRAHAM TAYLOR’S immense impact on English football could be measured yesterday by the affectionate memories of managers from across the generations.
Arsene Wenger recalled lunches of passionate debate in his early Arsenal days, when Taylor was at Watford for the second time. Eddie Howe hailed Taylor an inspiration having watched his teams as a child. And Tony Pulis praised Taylor’s ‘extraordinary’ achievements as an old-school boss.
Aston Villa’s Steve Bruce revealed how people at the club were still touched by the way Taylor treated star strikers and tea ladies with equal respect. He said it was fitting that two of Taylor’s former teams meet this evening, when Villa travel to Wolves.
Pulis’s reaction to Taylor’s death at the age of 72 struck a significant chord. Pulis joined Taylor earlier this season as a member of the 1,000 Club for number of games in charge. He focused on how the former Lincoln, Watford, Villa and Wolves manager ager achieved his success by taking total control of the clubs he managed.
Pulis also suggested Taylor did not get the credit he deserved because of a poor spell with England.
Taylor led Watford d from the Fourth Divisionn to second place in the he First Division insidee six seasons. He guided Villa tto a runners- up finish having won promotion, and broke points records with Lincoln.
Pulis, 58, said: ‘In football, and I really do mean this, everybody respected Graham, because what he did at those clubs was extraordinary. He ran the clubs himself, there were no suits in between. It was him, the secretary and the chairman, and he had control of everything. ‘It was old-fashioned, the way I started years ago. Graham did that successfully at the top level. ‘I remember going to White Hart Lane one year and watching his Villa team, whwho had just got prommoted from the Second Division, beat Tottenham. They were fantastic, so well organised, well drilled and well motivated. ‘ I’ve watched him cocoach and put sessions and seminars on at Lille shall. He was a legend to the younger people because of what he achieved, and he was straight forward with it, there were no edges to him. ‘The last time I met Graham was at the end of last season in Streetly, with his wife. I had a cup of coffee with him. I found him wonderful.
‘Sometimes he didn’t get the respect he deserved. People saying things now, it’s a bit disappointing when they criticised him that much at a certain time.’
Wenger, 67, said: ‘We were close at when he was manager at Watford. We had lunch once or twice. He had big passion and was absolutely focused on the game.
‘Pat Rice (Wenger’s former No 2) had him as a manager and spoke to me about how interesting it was to work under him at Watford. He was a very welcoming man and I always had big respect for him.’
Bournemouth boss Howe, 39, grew up going to Vicarage Road when Taylor was in charge.
‘My first team that I watched was Watford,’ said Howe. ‘I lived in Chesham, was born in Amersham, so very close to Watford.
‘He was the first manager who inspired me. That was in the early 1980s, to see the fantastic team that he produced in the First Division at the time. The times when I met him, I thought he was an incredibly friendly, lovely guy who was really passionate about football and did well wherever he managed, so it is a really sad loss for football.’
Every match in the Football League this weekend will begin with a minute’s applause for Taylor and Bruce added: ‘There are people on the Villa staff who worked with him for years.
‘The one thing that shines out above anything is what a very good human being he was. He treated everyone with the respect they deserved, whether they were the laundry lady or the centre forward.’
As Birmingham manager, Bruce came up against Taylor’s Villa team in 2002-03 and won both derbies.
‘I remember shaking his hand and he said to me, “The better team won”. That’s very difficult to say when you’ve just been beaten in a derby game, because all you want to do is get the hell out of there.
‘Yes, he was a fierce competitor, but there was always humility about him.’