TAYLOR TOPPLED
He’ll finally stand down after 38 years as PFA chief ++ Dramatic day also sees chairman and 12 committee members agree to quit ++ Anger as he won’t walk now
GORDON TAYLOR finally conceded defeat yesterday in the power struggle that has exposed serious flaws in the leadership of the crisis-hit PFA.
As Sportsmail were first to report, Taylor announced he is leaving after 38 years as chief executive on a dramatic day that also saw chairman Ben Purkiss and the other 12 management committee members agree to go.
A statement issued after an AGM that was originally scheduled to take place last November confirmed that all of them would quit. Their departures will come after a further AGM that will follow the conclusion of an independent review and the appointment of a new CEO.
No timescale has been provided but Taylor, 74, will remain at the helm for a process that could run until the end of this year, sparking anger among ex-pros who think he should leave immediately.
Taylor sought to save face yesterday, enlisting the help of an expensive PR agency to control some of the interviews he gave, before avoiding cameras and reporters by slipping out of a side door of the Midland Hotel in Manchester. While some of his
GORDON TAYLOR was at pains yesterday to stress that he will only be letting go of power at the PFA after an independent review has been completed. That will take months. He should go now. Over the coming days and weeks, we will hear plenty of platitudes about Taylor’s four decades at the PFA, but on the issue of dementia he failed his members. Members like my dad Mike, a former Norwich player, who is suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a degenerative disease of the brain caused by repetitive brain trauma. The PFA and the FA began research to try to establish a link between heading a football and CTE in 2001 but Taylor never flagged up that the testing had failed. Ben Purkiss, the PFA chairman, wants to put research into dementia at the forefront of the union’s agenda. He believes an organisation with £50million in their coffers should be committing more than £125,000 a year to this issue. He should be given the opportunity to put his vision into place. This is someone who put his head above the parapet to challenge Taylor’s 38-year reign when no one else would take him to task, someone whose vision is to drag this organisation into the 21st century and ensure it meets the needs of the modern-day player. He is the perfect candidate to transform the players’ union but is being barred from running for the top job for five years. Why should he have to fall on his sword? Yesterday’s announcement should have been a chance for the PFA to make a fresh start. Instead, it feels like Taylor is calling the shots right to the bitter end.