graham taylor

[rodo]

good article from him seems to talk a lot more sense now hes out the game

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/02/24/sfntay24.xml

[Mumsafan]

Yes I always find that when he's summarising he is very good. Talks a lot of sense.

[Shaggy]

Yeah it's bizarre isn't it. Such a seemingly hapless manager (certainly based on that infamous documentary) yet he's always been a very good summariser and comes across as having a real knowledge of the game.

[alunevans]

to be fair to him, he wasn't that hapless. his club record was excellent.

[dww]

He was great first time round at both Watford and Villa. He was less than great with England and the decent with Watford second time, terrible at Villa when he returned.

As England manager he had the job at an awkward time between two generations of decent players, but with few players having much experience at very high levels. At the time the english game was far behind other european leagues and very few of our players had much european experience. However he made some odd decisions. I always thought that the documentary was unfair as the media was always quite hostile to Taylor, and he was having to deal with a lot of pressure and the documentary process can't have helped.

He seems to have been left behind by more modern coaching practices, but he seems to have retained the ability to analyse games that he obviusly had to become successful at club level.

It has however taken him a while to perfect his role as a summariser. But of late he has become my favourite member of the Five Live team.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

I enjoy listen to him talk when i get to hear him on BBC 5 Live

[saj]

Another one who talks a lot of sense is David Pleat when he's co-commentating - next time listen to the things he says if you disagree with me or haven't really noticed him. He is very knowledgeable right down to the little things - I swear he could have been a good tactician

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Another one who talks a lot of sense is David Pleat when he's co-commentating - next time listen to the things he says if you disagree with me or haven't really noticed him. He is very knowledgeable right down to the little things - I swear he could have been a good tactician

I enjoy listening to him also i would have to admit

[Flake]

I really think David Pleat is a complete, no-nothing, grade A, gold plated cock.

[Mumsafan]

He always gets everyones name totally wrong!

[captainfog]

I have a mate who was a family friend of his when growing up.

His dad was shouting so much abuse at him from the terraces of Watford that Taylor turned on him and demanded they meet up after the game to have a proper debate. They ended up going for a meal and getting on like a house on fire.

My mate has got loads of letters from Taylor documenting his Watford years right through to a letter he wrote to them days after leaving the England set up.

He comes across as a thoroughly decent man. There is even one letter where my friend had told Graham that none of his school friends would belive he had gone to Graham Taylors house to stay for the weekend and so Graham wrote a short letter detailing the days activities, signing his name at the bottom, so my mate could show his classmates when he got back to school.

My mates dad is a bit of a nutter and the general theme of the letters is Graham defending himself from constant accusations that he is 'cutting them out of his life', there is one classic quote where Graham writes 'Keith, you must understand, I have two aging parents in Scunthorp, my dad's memory is getting worse by the day and I am having to drive to see them on a regular basis, plus my daughter is going through a separation and I am having to travel up and see her.' Fecking classic it is...

A few years ago my mates dad (the aforementioned keith) cut Graham out of his life because the christmas card he got from him did not have a personal message in it.......what a loon

There are interesting nuggets where he is commenting about how certain press will be sharpening the knives over his decision drop Gazza, and when he was at Villa he is very scathing about the lack of ambition at Watford board level and there is a very funny anecdote about him and Elton John drunkenly stumbling down the road singing songs together.

The most moving letter, is the one he wrote after leaving the England set up, he accusing the certain FA officials of stabbing him in the back. He even quotes Kipling......

He also writes a cracking letter on the eve of a game against Liverpool and he jokes about how hard it will be to play against Fagan's boys.


It is a remarkable collection of correspondences and a terrific incite into Graham Taylor, he seems like he has a heart of gold.

[Flake]

He always gets everyones name totally wrong!

The classic was when he was commentating and called Gillespie 'jillespie' . Clearly in the mistaken belief the player wasn't english...

[Marky]

I've always liked Graham Taylor to be honest.
Comes across as a sound bloke.

[lfcruleus]

He said in the week before the game that we would knock Barca out and not many did.

On the subject of summarisers did you see Merson get the piss ripped out of him on Soccer Sat about him laughing when Keyes said we need to beat Barca. Thommo made him look a right tit.

[Shaggy]

He said in the week before the game that we would knock Barca out and not many did.

On the subject of summarisers did you see Merson get the piss ripped out of him on Soccer Sat about him laughing when Keyes said we need to beat Barca. Thommo made him look a right tit.

Haha really? ****in excellent. I saw Merson and Keys laughing about the notion of us beating Barca. Well in Thommo. What did he say?