You'll never get a more honest and down to earth man, if you look back at those England games with Holland, so many disgraceful decisions went against us, clear cut decisions, and he was haranged over it. He wasn't the best England manager, but he sure wasn't the worst.
Quote from: Nev on January 08, 2016, 01:20:14 PMQuote from: dave.woodhall on January 08, 2016, 01:03:52 PMAs he said, "Nobody talks about what I did with Watford, or Villa, or Watford again, or the most successful start to the England job ever. All they remember is seven seconds against San Marino and that documentary."And no one ever remembers that Harry Rednapp took Saints down.Did he take Pompey down as well?
Quote from: dave.woodhall on January 08, 2016, 01:03:52 PMAs he said, "Nobody talks about what I did with Watford, or Villa, or Watford again, or the most successful start to the England job ever. All they remember is seven seconds against San Marino and that documentary."And no one ever remembers that Harry Rednapp took Saints down.
As he said, "Nobody talks about what I did with Watford, or Villa, or Watford again, or the most successful start to the England job ever. All they remember is seven seconds against San Marino and that documentary."
Graham Taylor is one of only one, true, genuine top-flight football men that I can think of at this precise moment. I may think of others later but for now he's the only one.IMO, despite not winning any silverware, SGT belongs up there with all our past great Villa men. Sometimes it's not about trophies, it's about overseeing an ailing football club and carrying out a root and branch cull to ensure the club stays alive and regenerates. This is what he did.I never think about his spell as England manager or read anything about it. It proves conclusively to me that the majority of national sports journalists know fuck all about football so I never bother. To me, he's on a par with the great Ron Saunders, he poured life into a near terminal case. I would love to meet him.
The channel it was on explains why there was nothing from 1987-90.
Quote from: dave.woodhall on January 08, 2016, 11:35:23 AMThe channel it was on explains why there was nothing from 1987-90.Rather odd seeing as Sky Sports is run by one of the biggest Villa fans I've ever met.
Graham Taylor: An Unfairly Tainted ReputationIn a game of Graham Taylor word association, the word 'turnip' will come up pretty quickly. That unfairly dismisses a lovely man, and brilliant manager...Here's a piece of free advice; don't become England manager. Granted, that little piece of sage wisdom will not apply to most of you, but it's worth keeping in mind in case something improbable happens, or if you are a professional football manager. You might think you can do a decent job, but it will almost certainly not be decent enough. For the England gig makes monkeys of the best men. Or, shall we say, it makes perceived monkeys of the best men. Bobby Robson was so sick of the way he was treated in the press that he binned it off before Italia 90, a successful tournament that, if Bobby wasn't such a lovely bloke, you would think was just one colossal 'f**k you' to the men from the papers. Steve McClaren became defined by an entirely sensible item of weather protection, Sven Goran Eriksson by Little Sven and Glenn Hoddle by some reprehensible views about karma and so forth. Even Fabio Capello, iron man of European football, couldn't be arsed by the whole thing in the end. It is, as the old documentary said, an impossible job. The subject of said documentary is probably the worst example of the whole thing. Graham Taylor was, as you'll remember, reduced to a root vegetable on the front of the Sun after some admittedly abysmal showings in the World Cup qualifiers, his reaction to which was unfortunately captured on film for future generations to laugh at.. And, in fairness, watching a man who resembled a minor local councillor sidle up to a linesman to say "Tell your pal he's just cost me my job" was, on some levels, quite funny. The problem is that this sort of thing has a habit of taking over the common image of person, to throw their previous achievements onto a bonfire like it's some sort of schadenfreudean rewriting of history and become the predominant perception of them. Because Taylor was, before being gobbled up by the dignity mincer that was and still is the England job, a seriously brilliant manager. His gig before being called to Lancaster Gate (ask your parents) was with Aston Villa, who he took from the Second Division to damn near winning the league in three seasons. But it is his time at Watford that should really define the man. Taylor took over at Vicarage Road in 1977 when the Hornets were in the Fourth Division, having turned down top flight West Brom basically because they were rude in the manner they approached him. He told Elton John, who had recently become chairman of his boyhood club, that if he could get them to the First Division within ten years, that would represent success. He managed it in five. And, once there, they implausibly finished second in their first season, only behind Bob Paisley's Liverpool, irritating all and sundry along the way with their rather direct style of play. The following years saw them reach the third round of the UEFA Cup, make the FA Cup final in 1984 and the semi-final a couple of years later. Taylor found a club in a mess, who had been bottom of the entire Football League in the season before he arrived, had no training ground and had to share billing with a greyhound track that encircled the pitch, which he promptly got rid of. "It's either the dogs or me," he told John. In a decade he took them to Wembley, Europe and close to the league title, finally leaving them ninth in the top flight, some 66 places higher than when he arrived. You'll not find many people in Watford whose primary memory of Taylor is "Do I not like that." As well as all this though, Taylor just seems like a lovely bloke. In Lionel Birnie's wonderful book 'Enjoy The Game', about Watford in the 1980s, there are countless stories that paint a picture of a kind, generous and generally just a sensationally pleasant human being. One that stands out is the time the club's clapped-out Fiat Panda, used by the scouts to travel the country, finally gave in because someone forgot to put oil in the engine. Taylor called a staff meeting, at which the four scouts assumed they would be given a bill for the repair of the car, so they pre-emptively decided to split the £1,000 cost. They were handed four envelopes, but instead of invoices they contained plane tickets and reservations for a swanky hotel in Portugal. "This is just a thank you from the club for all your work," said Taylor. "Take a break, take your wives, and enjoy yourselves." Taylor even offered to look after their children for the week while they went away. And there are so many more. After one rather chastening defeat, Taylor trained his players hard with double sessions for three days, before arriving to the training ground on the Thursday. "I was talking to Rita (his wife) last night," he told his team, "and she thought perhaps I was being a bit hard on you and I agreed. So, get yourselves changed into your tracksuits and meet me at the hotel for a Champagne breakfast on me." He threw in some jugs of lager to lighten the mood, too. On another occasion, instead of a pre-season training session he took his players for a walk with their dogs before a pub lunch. When Watford sold Luther Blissett to AC Milan (a deal which involved a bloke who owned a local Italian restaurant as a go-between) for a then-hefty £1million in 1983, Taylor hugged the forward who'd been with him from the start and tears were shed. Paul Atkinson, a midfielder signed from Oldham, chose Watford over Nottingham Forest partly because Taylor knew all about his game and spent a long time explaining how he'd fit into his side, whereas Brian Clough gave him a drink and said Forest were "going to the Reeperbahn on our pre-season trip. You're not a poof lad, are you?" We could go on, with any number of stories about his managerial skills and simple good eggery. But for now, before England play and we watch the latest poor whelp flail in the pitiless seas of the national job, just enjoy these, and remember that Taylor wasn't a punchline, and he certainly wasn't a turnip.Nick Miller
I get them to say the name of the city where our ground is located. If they say the word Birmingham as though it is a place I continue to talk to them. If they say it like the punchline of an Aufwiedersehn Pet piss take I walk away.
I remember in his first spell, a few Villa players frequented my local, one in particular (Oak n Ash in Walmley).One day when I was in there at the same time as said player, in walks Sir Graham (obviously been tipped off). This player just stood up, left his pint and walked out the pub.Sir Graham wasn't a man to mess with !
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