Peter Taylor (footballer born 1928)

:"For the current manager of Wycombe Wanderers, see Peter John Taylor. For other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor."

Football manager infobox
playername = Peter Taylor


fullname = Peter Thomas Taylor
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date|1928|7|2
cityofbirth = Nottingham
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = death date and age|1990|10|4|1928|7|2
cityofdeath = Majorca
countryofdeath = Spain
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1945
1950-1955
1955-1961
1961
clubs = Nottingham Forest
Coventry City
Middlesbrough
Port Vale
caps(goals) = 000 0(0)
086 0(0)
140 0(0)
001 0(0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1962-1965
1965-1967
1967-1973
1973-1974
1974-1976
1976-1982
1982-1984
managerclubs = Burton Albion
Hartlepools United (assistant manager)
Derby County (assistant manager)
Brighton & Hove Albion (assistant manager)
Brighton & Hove Albion
Nottingham Forest (assistant manager)
Derby County

Peter Thomas Taylor, (July 2 1928 – October 4 1990), was an English football goalkeeper who played for Port Vale, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. More notably, he was a successful coach at Derby County and Nottingham Forest alongside Brian Clough.

Career

Taylor is most famous for his managerial partnership with Clough. The two first met in 1955 at Middlesbrough, where Taylor was a reserve goalkeeper and Clough an up-and-coming striker. Taylor was among the first to spot Clough's potential as a forward and helped him break into the first team.

While Clough inspired and motivated the team, it was Taylor who had the uncanny ability to spot talent and potential. Clough once said of his colleague: "I'm not equipped to manage successfully without Peter Taylor. I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back."ref|taylor Taylor himself described their partnership as: "We just gelled together, we filled in the gaps...My strength was buying and selecting the right player, then Brian's man management would shape the player."ref|taylor2

In October 1962, Taylor was offered the manager's job at Burton Albion. He created one of the most successful sides in Burton's history, winning the Southern League Cup in 1964. A year later he became Clough's assistant manager at Hartlepools (now Hartlepool). Before their arrival, the club had been forced to apply for re-election to the Football League four times in the previous six years. The two gradually turned around the club's fortunes, leading them to an 8th place finish in the Fourth Division. In May 1967 both men left to join Derby County. The team they built at Hartlepools was promoted the following year.

At Derby, Taylor and Clough proceeded to re-build the side with Taylor instrumental in signing players such as Dave Mackay and Roy McFarland. Derby were promoted to the First Division in 1969. They finished fourth in 1970 and won the League Championship in 1972 - the first in the club's history. Derby reached the semi-finals of the European Cup the following season, controversially losing to Juventus. On October 15 1973, both he and Clough resigned, partially after a dispute with the Derby board over Taylor's crucial but largely undefined role, although numerous reasons were behind Clough and Taylor's resignation. There were protests over this at Derby's next home game against Leicester City on October 20 1973, as the Derby fans demanded Clough and Taylor's reinstatement.

The two then took over at Third Division Brighton on November 1 1973, though this time with less success. Just after Clough and Taylor were appointed, the team lost 4-0 at home to Walton and Hersham at home in a FA Cup replay and then 8-2 at home to Bristol Rovers on December 1 1973. Brighton finished 19th in the final table that season.

Clough left for Leeds United in July 1974 but Taylor stayed on at the South coast club for a further two seasons, guiding the team to a 4th place finish in 1975-76. On July 16 1976, Taylor resigned as manager and joined Clough at Nottingham Forest. A year later Brighton were promoted to the Second Division under Alan Mullery and in 1978-79 they reached the First Division.

Within a year of Taylor's arrival, Forest were promoted to the First Division. In 1977, Taylor decided to replace John Middleton with Peter Shilton. fact|date=February 2008 In their first season back in the top division, Forest emphatically won the Championship, finishing seven points clear of runners-up Liverpool . They also won the League Cup, winning the latter by beating Liverpool 1-0 in a replay. In 1979, Forest won the European Cup with victory over Malmö FF and the League Cup again. The European Cup was retained a year later, this time against Kevin Keegan's Hamburg SV, though the club were denied a third consecutive League Cup win after a defeat in the final to Wolves.

Feud with Clough

Taylor retired in May 1982 after Forest finished 12th in the league and were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Wrexham, but took over as manager of Derby six months later in November of that year. At the time Derby were going through serious financial problems and were bottom of the table, but he steered them to a mid-table position by the end of the season. In the third round of the FA Cup on 8 January 1983 they knocked out Clough's Forest team with a 2-0 win at the Baseball Ground. They reached the 5th round, being knocked out by Manchester United 1-0 at home. That season, Derby went through a 14-match unbeaten run. However, the following season saw the team struggle again, and Taylor resigned in early April 1984 with the club third from bottom of the Second Division. There was no money to spend on new players. Derby were almost bankrupt and were rescued at the last minute in late March 1984. However, the team reached the quarter-finals in the FA Cup that season, being knocked out 1-0 in a replay against Plymouth Argyle by means of an own goal. The revenue obtained from the FA Cup run almost certainly helped to keep the club afloat.

It appears, according to Tony Francis' 1987 biography of Clough and Duncan Hamilton's 2007 publication called "Provided you don't kiss me: 20 years with Brian Clough", that the relationship started to fracture in the Autumn of 1980 when Taylor published "With Clough by Taylor", an autobiography which was largely based on Taylor's work with Clough. He did not tell Clough that he was writing the book at the time. Taylor's relationship with Clough was finally damaged permanently after a dispute over the transfer of John Robertson from Forest to Derby in May 1983, when Taylor apparently didn't tell Clough that he was signing Robertson. Clough attacked Taylor afterwards in a tabloid article as being a "Rattlesnake", "A Snake-in-the-grass" and said that "We pass each other on the A52 going to work on most days of the week. But if his car broke down and I saw him thumbing a lift, I wouldn't pick him up, I'd run him over".Fact|date=October 2007 Taylor did not insult back Clough but replied that he didn't expect anything else from a man he now regarded with distaste and at the same time threatened to sue Clough for defamation if he repeated what he said.

Clough and Taylor would never speak to one another again. In 1989, a year before he died, Taylor urged Clough in a tabloid article to retire before A) a chairman like Longson forced him out and B) his health suffered under the strain forcing him into premature retirement. Clough fiercely denounced both of Taylor's suggestions, saying they weren't fit to be in the "wrappers that we used to eat Fish and Chips in Middlesbrough" but within a few years time, it was Taylor who would be correct, not Clough. However, Taylor would not live to see his prediction come true.

Death

Peter Taylor died suddenly whilst on holiday in Costa De Los Pinos, Majorca, aged 62 on 4 October 1990. However, when told of Taylor's death by Ron Fenton, Clough apparently didn't speak, put the phone down on him and cried heavily [ [http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/managers/brian-clough.html Brian Clough :: Soccerphile ] ] . Clough attended the funeral eleven days later and dedicated his 1994 autobiography to Taylor saying "To Peter. Still miss you badly. You once said: 'When you get shot of me there won't be as much laughter in your life'. You were right".

Clough also paid tribute to Taylor when he was awarded the freedom of the city of Nottingham in March 1993, saying that "I have only one regret today, and that is that me mate isn't here with me". He also paid tribute to Taylor in September 1999 when a bust of himself was unveiled at the City ground, saying that he would like the "The Brian Clough" stand to be renamed the "Brian Clough and Peter Taylor Stand" in recognition of the big contribution Taylor made to the partnership.Fact|date=October 2007

Brian Clough never had the same amount of success as a manager without Peter Taylor.

Notes

# [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/21/db2101.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/09/21/ixportal.html Brian Clough]
# [http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk/dispatch.aspx?a=ec8df092-3050-4f8b-a327-4b6603ad35e3 The Inspirational manager]

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9612656 Peter Taylor] at Find A Grave
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3758495.stm Forest's unforgettable fairytale] at bbc.co.uk