Just referring to the article itself Chris where they say BBC were too scared to do anything about his behaviour because of his outstanding commentaries.
I don't think I have ever felt more upset by the passing of someone I never met.So why, when I read the news last night, although alone in a hotel room, did I blurt out loud "Oh God, please no"?Well you've all said it so well, but to sum it up in my own way-It's not because he was a great football manager.It's not because he managed my beloved football team twice.It's not even because he put the smile back on my face after the wilderness years of the mid eighties and took us back where we belonged.It's because in an unkind and intolerant world, where vacuous celebrity and moody petulance is the benchmark style for football managers (and many others besides), he was someone who greeted both great success and public failure with humility and dignity, didn't take himself too seriously, knew what was important in life and was capable of great acts of quiet charity. He is the type of man I want my sons to be, and I'm just sorry he won't have more time to spread his positive influence.He certainly deserved it. Thankyou Sir.
I met him when he was back at Watford the second time. I'd been sent to the training ground to film the squad training for some game or other.I have the kind of job where I sometimes have to talk to well-known people, and usually I think nothing of it - it's just my work, I'm wearing a suit and playing the part of a TV news reporter who looks a bit like me.But this was one of just two or three times where I was actually really nervous. I was worried I was going to start gushing and making a fool of myself. As it turned out I was fine, until right at the end. We finished the interview, I thanked him and told him I supported the Villa.'Oh yes?' He said and smiled. Waiting for me to say something else.'You know we all call you... *Sir* Graham Taylor, don't you?'He threw his head back and laughed, and shook my hand. I don't know if I was telling him something he didn't know.But I tell you what, I'm bloody glad I told him.Anyway I'm now sitting in a McDonalds in County Durham, crying like a baby.
For any H&V'ers that may still buy the Sun from time to time I thought it would be worthwhile posting this here. Taken from football365.com's mediawatch feature;Is that an apology, then?‘Golden Graham’ reads The Sun’s headline after the tragic passing of former England manager Graham Taylor at the age of 72.‘He never bore grudge… even after this’ reads the secondary headline, pointing to The Sun’s own infamous headline of ‘Swedes 2 Turnips 1’ from 1993.‘YOU HAD to admire Graham Taylor for his ever-so-English ability to look his tormentors, myself included, full on and never bear a grudge,’ writes former football chief Alex Montgomery, brought back for a special column.‘It would have been so easy for him as England manager to snub papers like The Sun. Instead he chose to ignore what was a campaign to get him out of the job when his challenge for the 1992 European Championships failed so badly. That resulted in our classic headline above my match report.‘As it turned out, Taylor always admired the headline that summed up his failure as England manager. It was penned by the great SunSport production journalist Dave Clement, an absolute master of the tabloid headline.’Taylor did indeed admire that headline, but what Montgomery fails to mention is just how much The Sun’s subsequent coverage hurt Taylor. He was belittled, vilified and humiliated, mocked up as a root vegetable and given a moniker that would haunt him for the rest of his life. This was the worst strand of tabloid journalism: personal attacks to sell copy.“The operation on my knee, goodness it hurt. It was the sort of pain people say they wouldn’t wish on their worst enemies. I’m different, I would,” Taylor said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2013.“I remember I met Kelvin McKenzie, who was the editor of The Sun at the time, and he told me I was being over-sensitive to complain about his paper calling me a turnip. He said it was a bit of fun. Well, I was at a match in Brentford several years later, making my way to my car after the game when I saw out of corner of my eye two yobbish-looking people coming out of the pub with a pint in each hand.“They were shouting ‘there’s the effin turnip’ and they chucked the pints over me. If it wasn’t for the swift action of the Brentford security people, I reckon it would have been worse. Was that just a bit of fun, Kelvin?”As for the ‘master of the tabloid headline’ Clement, Taylor wasn’t exactly enamoured. When Clement retired, The Sun crassly invited Taylor to present him with a special leaving present: an autographed copy of that headline. It was an invitation that Taylor rejected out of hand.To not accept the paper’s guilt in Taylor’s struggles is one thing, but to turn the first paragraphs of your tribute to a kind, humble man into a self-celebration of your newspaper’s work really is quite another. Still, not the like The Sun to fail to reveal the full truth, is it?"They really are the lowest of the low. absolute shithouses
Read a lovely story on Twitter today from former Watford player, Gifton Noel-Williams. He was a young lad at Watford when SGT took over for the second time. He got called into SGT office and had recently become a young father and was worried that SGT was gonna give him a bollocking. SGT sat him down and asked if he was ok for money, did he need anything for the baby? Noel - Williams said he needed about 300 pounds worth of things for the baby. SGT got out his own personal cheque book and wrote a cheque for a grand to give to Noel-Williams. Told him not to worry about money and concentrate on his football and when he is at home, his young child. We we're so lucky to have him as a part of the Villa family.
Quote from: dave.woodhall on January 12, 2017, 08:10:05 PMQuote from: andyh on January 12, 2017, 08:08:55 PMI sincerely hope they hold a silence rather than an applause at saturdays game.For me, it is more powerful, poignant and dignified.Absolutely.Followed by a game long "Graham Taylor's Claret 'n'Blue Army" in tribute ala Everton 1990.
Quote from: andyh on January 12, 2017, 08:08:55 PMI sincerely hope they hold a silence rather than an applause at saturdays game.For me, it is more powerful, poignant and dignified.Absolutely.
I sincerely hope they hold a silence rather than an applause at saturdays game.For me, it is more powerful, poignant and dignified.
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