Graham Taylor

[Bad English]

I feel better reliving that season.

[saunders_heroes]

I always thought Ormondroyd was quite skillful for a bloke of his size and build.  I liked him.

And he scored some cracking goals as well.

And he had a rousing song:
Or-mon-droyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd,
 Ormondroyd, Or-mon-droyd!

Bob Dylan couldn't have come up with better lyrics than that.

[Tayls_7]

I always thought Ormondroyd was quite skillful for a bloke of his size and build.  I liked him.

And he scored some cracking goals as well.

And he had a rousing song:
Or-mon-droyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd,
 Ormondroyd, Or-mon-droyd!

Bob Dylan couldn't have come up with better lyrics than that.

No you're right. Bob Dylan couldn't definitely couldn't. Bob Dylan is garbage.

[saunders_heroes]

We've made one of those quote fails

[Tayls_7]

"Oh yeah"!

[KevinGage]

I understand that he wanted to take the England job, but one of the greatest 'if onlys' for me if he'd stayed for the 90-91 season after finishing 2nd in the league.

Personally I think that side was punching above its weight a wee bit and would have dipped again even under GT.  McGrath, Cowans and Platt were all top class.  Players like Chris Price (much as I liked him) Mountfield, Neilson, Sticks Ormondroyd and Tony Cantscorino don't belong in that bracket. The latter two struggled to even control a football most of the time.

And if GT had stayed we probably wouldn't have had the BFR years, so it worked out well in the end.

Look at that team's record against the teams immediately below them and tell me which ones were better. I'd take winning the league (which I'm still convinced we would have by 1992 over anything Ron did.

And look at how many sides finished above us in 1991.

When BFR took over just over a year after Taylor had left, he had virtually the same team as the side that finished second in 89/90, minus Platt (which is a pretty big minus, granted).

In his book a few years back, BFR said his initial intention was to give the bulk of that side a chance over an extended period of time and not make wholesale changes.  But a few weeks into the job, it was obvious to him that without major surgery, that side was going down.

A big proportion of that side was also close to going down in 1988/89. 

So was 89/90 going to be the start of something special under Taylor, or was it merely an aberration?  (Albeit a very welcome one).

Ultimately we'll never know, but when GT signed Cantscorino at the back end of that season, he said it was with a view to ensuring Aston Villa would be in the top 6 for a few years in a row.  Even he wasn't talking about another title push the following year.

[Damo70]

Anyone who knocks him for his time with England and some of the players he picked needs to look at who his options were at the time. Shilton and Butcher retired from international football, Robson was getting too old and becoming a bit part player at United, Gazza was seriously injured, a number of others were past their best and a good number of the players who did so well in Euro '96 were just up and coming youngsters at that time.

[go on the dog]

This shows just how much we owe the bloke

[Cliftonville Villain]

Legend. Pure and simple. When Sir Graham lost it on the touchline, Christ the response was immediate. But yet an absolute gentleman. A part of me still thinks that today, even in the background, playing some small part, he could get us back up quickly. He wouldn't stand for this mess.

[thick_mike]

This shows just how much we owe the bloke

Great stuff, thanks for linking that. Never knew Bruno was a Villa fan...one of my all time favourites, especially for his goals against the Blues at St Andrews

[Dante Lavelli]

This shows just how much we owe the bloke

Nice.  They visibly light up when they talk about taylor.

Whilst I appreciate that he is too old/retired to take up a permanent role at the club it would be great if Hollis asked him to help for say 12 months as a trouble shooter from the football perspective.  I'm sure/hope Hollis has a good understanding of restructuring big organisations but it's important that a football man is involved.

Numerous people on this thread talk about how he re-organised the whole ethos of the club.  This is what we need, not 'bants' on the training ground.

[old man villa fan]

This shows just how much we owe the bloke

Great stuff, thanks for linking that. Never knew Bruno was a Villa fan...one of my all time favourites, especially for his goals against the Blues at St Andrews

Gary Thompson went to Brandwood School in Kings Heath with Paul Dyson (ex Coventry City) and were preceded by the Latchfords (Bob, Dave and Peter).  The school also produced the middle distance runners Ian, Peter and Mary Stewart.  Quite an achievement in a period of a little over 10 years.

[peter w]

I was at that game!

Not in the Shelf after blagging in for nothing though.

I wouldn't have had the nerve!

Our bit was sold out. That was a weird season - it was like some armstice had happened and opposition fans were okay with each other. I stood on the Kop when some old Scousers had somebody thrown out for having a go at us and the Trent End with about fifty of us in the corner going mad when we scored.

Ha, I was in the Trent End in the corner with a mate and trying to keep (sort of) quiet - I'd been out all night and went more or less straight to the game. When we scored we were surrounded by Villa. Makes me laugh thinking about it still.

[Fred]

Dare i say the England team in 1990 did have a lot of luck along the way, Belguim and Cameroon for isntance. A lot of the players in that team were ready to retire.
Sir Graham did a good job but the press took the level of abuse that Sir Bobby received up a notch and that was wrong.

Great manager and man, His twitter account (in case you have seen it) is a fake

[old man villa fan]

I remember when GT came to Villa and a Watford season ticket holder we did business with said at the time that alot of things GT got credit for was due to the coaching of Steve Harrison.