Elton John Pays Tribute To Graham Taylor

He enjoyed great success in club management, particularly at Watford and Aston Villa, before taking charge of the national team in 1990. Credit: PA Taylor earned a hero’s return at Villa Park in 2002 but could not repeat the success of his first spell at the club.

Taylor was born in Worksop in Nottinghamshire and played for Lincoln City before beginning his managerial career there in the 1970s. A full back, he played 189 games for Grimsby, followed by 150 for Lincoln City (1968-1972), before a hip injury forced his retirement from playing at 27.

Expressing his sadness at his friend’s passing, the grieving rock star added, “This is a sad and dark day for Watford”.

Taylor’s huge achievements won him the England job, where he won 18 of his 33 matches before resigning from his post after The Three Lions missed out on qualification to the 1994 World Cup. I’ll be very surprised if you don’t see big, powerful managers not coming out and speaking about Graham Taylor.

One of his former England players Alan Shearer tweeted: “Completely shocked by news of Graham Taylor“. The manager was seriously criticised and lampooned as a “turnip” in The Sun newspaper.

During his managerial career, he took charge of both England and Aston Villa.

“I was unhappy it caused such pain, that’s not something you want, but I was very proud of the way it came out”.

John Murray, a football commentator for 5 live who worked with him during his time as a pundit and summariser, said that Taylor was “everything I had hoped before I met him”. But you could read this man like a book, so there was really was no disguising how those three years with England were the ones he takes to the grave.

Importantly we all understood exactly what we were supposed to be doing in any given situation – Graham’s instructions were really clear and he was very good at communicating them, very good at explaining things in a simple way.

Unfortunately for many football fans their overriding memory of Taylor is his failure as England manager.

The England job beckoned after Bobby Robson retired in 1990. However, Elton John brought him back to Watford – back in the third tier of English football – in 1996. Taylor was back into the game barely a year after England sacked him and was soon dodging bullets once more. He acquired the talent of John Barnes from non-league football in the process, who formed a formidable striking partnership with Luther Blissett.