1987 - Graham Taylor arrives

[Fred]

Sir Graham signed Platt, McGrath and Yorke.
A great man. Nothing else to say.

[Pete3206]

Sir Graham signed Platt, McGrath and Yorke.
A great man. Nothing else to say.

And Kent Nielsen.

[RichardBatchelor]

The way he just got on and transformed the club and team was inspiring. It felt like there was a credible bigger plan for the first time since Saunders/Barton.I think that he also connected because of his honesty and the way he explained   what he was aiming at.

Still one of the bravest acts by a manager I've seen was at the end of his second stint with us when he came on the pitch after the last game of a bad season to address the crowd.The crowd we're a lot less reasonable then he deserved.

re the second paragraph, absolutely typical of the man.

[dave.woodhall]

There are so many stories about him, which show both decency and his professionalism. When he arrived he was turning up at pubs he knew players used, checking up on how they behaved and who they were mixing with. When he was at Wolves, Steve Froggatt was getting marrieed, "He asked me if I was happy, if everything was fine and when I said I was okay, he asked 'So who was that blonde woman who was in your.house yesterday?' He'd been going round checking everything out to see I really was alright - and she was from the estate agents."

[KevinGage]

If I remember right all the talk was about BFR, who was out of work at the time or possibly Dave Bassett taking over. I don't recall any talk of SGT before his appointment. It was quite surreal for me as he was appointed on the day I left school. I ducked into a newsagents to avoid a schools out forever eggs and flour rampage and saw the front page of the Evening Mail announcing his appointment.  I was there for his first game at Ipswich, where we got to have a quick chat and autograph after the game (the joy and freedom that £28.50 a week YTS money brought) and his last game at Everton three years later and about 95% of the games in between, the vast majority of them with Nev. We also got to meet him and have a chat and a picture after the Nigel Spink testimonial forum, which was in Sutton Coldfield if I remember right.

BFR was never in the frame, which was strange as he was out of work at the time. The odds-on favourite was Bassett, who ended up replacing Sir Graham at Watford.

Wasn't Rioch also in the frame? maybe not realistically as I think he had been at Boro for only a short while? Maybe that was after SGT left.

I think there was a lot of talk about Rioch when SGT left in 1990. Along with Joe Jordan and Gerry Francis if I remember right.

Joe Jordan was offered the job, but turned it down.  According to the man himself.

[dave.woodhall]

It was strange how second and third division managers turned down a job that had so much going for it.

[Steve R]

I'd really come to dislike Doug after all that he got up to in the late 70s. By the time McNeill got the hoof I was convinced that HDE was dragging us back to the third or even worse.

I couldn't believe it when I read that GT was taking over.

I think that GT's biggest achievement was drawing a line for Doug exactly where he (GT) thought it should be. We needed - and got - so much more than a new manager. I dread to think where we'd be now if it wasn't for him.

[Damo70]

I seem to remember rumours on BRMB that he had quit or threatened to quit after a disagreement with Doug very early on in his first season. I have a Friday night in September in my mind for some reason and have no idea if my memory is playing tricks on me or not.

[dave.woodhall]

I seem to remember rumours on BRMB that he had quit or threatened to quit after a disagreement with Doug very early on in his first season. I have a Friday night in September in my mind for some reason and have no idea if my memory is playing tricks on me or not.

He had his resignation letter in his desk waiting to be signed from then until he left.

[Nev]

A gentleman.

How very different to the managers at Wembley today.

[peter w]

I seem to remember rumours on BRMB that he had quit or threatened to quit after a disagreement with Doug very early on in his first season. I have a Friday night in September in my mind for some reason and have no idea if my memory is playing tricks on me or not.

He had his resignation letter in his desk waiting to be signed from then until he left.

yeah i remember that but never quite believed it. Are you sure it wasn't figuratively speaking? I mean the original letter may have been written but still having it 3 years later? Yellowing and written with a 1987 or 88 perspective rather than a 1990 one? I'm not sating Sir Graham isn't telling the truth but I'd be surprised if the letter was still there waiting to be signed 3 years on? Did he bring it back with him a few years later? No, not convinced on that one.

[LTA]

I remember him claiming he was very close to being sacked in early 89/90 and was actually summoned to a meeting with Ellis after we played Derby and beat them.  Ellis said it was discus plans for Bodymoor, but SGT reckoned the meeting was planned to sack him if we lost.

[Fred]

As Dave Woodhall said in his book on Villa Managers he was the only manager to get the better of Doug.
I love the story of Doug approaching the dressing room and Sir Graham shutting the door on him.

[dave.woodhall]

I seem to remember rumours on BRMB that he had quit or threatened to quit after a disagreement with Doug very early on in his first season. I have a Friday night in September in my mind for some reason and have no idea if my memory is playing tricks on me or not.

He had his resignation letter in his desk waiting to be signed from then until he left.

yeah i remember that but never quite believed it. Are you sure it wasn't figuratively speaking? I mean the original letter may have been written but still having it 3 years later? Yellowing and written with a 1987 or 88 perspective rather than a 1990 one? I'm not sating Sir Graham isn't telling the truth but I'd be surprised if the letter was still there waiting to be signed 3 years on? Did he bring it back with him a few years later? No, not convinced on that one.

That's what he said, and who am I to disbelieve him?

[Clampy]

I've said this many times before i'm sure but the job he did first time round is forgotten. I do kind of wish in a way that he hadn't come back second time round because thats what a lot of fans remember of him which is a shame.