Graham Taylor on the defensive..

This interview was taken from Match of the day in the spring of 1982, a short time after Watford had secured promotion to the top flight of English football.. Graham Taylor was attempting to explain Watford's style of play which had come into critisism as Watford climbed up the leagues during the late seventies and early eighties. Worse was to come after the Horns started playing in the first division for the first time in their history the season after (82/83) and GT had many more interviews in the same vein as this one.

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[benmarks1984]

Graham Taylor is a nice bloke but how he became England manager with the direct style of football his teams used to play is a joke. Watford used to have a tactic where they would kick the ball out of touch from a kick off, like they do in rugby, so they could get in the other teams half straight away!! Taylor's watford side took the English game back 10 years!

[stevohorn]

@benmarks1984

Ben.. personally i would say that GT's strength was getting the most out of the players he had at his disposal. He made a silk purse out of the sow's ear that was Watfords fc. Admittingly he wasnt very good at dealng with the more established players he had at his disposal when he was national team boss.

[stevohorn]

@benmarks1984

As for the tactics.. well i followed the Hornets through his entire time with us and i never recall us kicking the ball out of play on purpose.

Yes.. the style of play never suited the football purist. But if you had followed Watford up the division like i did, then you would probably be less bothered about that.

[Weaselier]

And lo, out of the swirling mists of sulphur and fire, the fifth horseman of the apocalypse rode out; turnip taylor. And he would refuse ryan giggs for the national side because tony daley was the fucking man, do I not think that. Parp.

[stevohorn]

While you are entitled to your point of view..you should check your facts first. Ryan Giggs wasnt "refused" by GT..he was never eligible to play for England. Giggs played for the England schoolboys side because he attended an English school. But he was born in Wales, as were his parents and grandparents.

Giggs could never have played for England and GT knew that.

[wfc91]

have you got any of the 1980s luton games

these are great!!!

[stevohorn]

I have..but (whisper this) only games that we lost!

[spartak95]

He wasnt a bad coach, Taylor. He did a great job at Watford. He had a shitty pool of players to pick from when he was with England

[hoffio1]

the amount of crap taylor and watford got from the media is unfair and rubbish. look at the players had like barnes and callaghan.

[RoathRipper]

he doesnt like 'sophisticated' football. holy christ. why in the world of fuckery was this man appointed England manager, i'll never know.

[paul202011]

@weatherallc05 ye I do agree, but the best teams in the world pass the ball around cos they know how to wear the opposition out. Taylor was able to get away with this style cos the game hadnt evolved at this time nowadays this would never work.

[weatherallc05]

disgraceful how people can criticise taylor, especially the bbc. they know nothing about football

[weatherallc05]

@paul202011 thats cos teams play defensive against them

[weatherallc05]

disgraceful how people can criticise taylor, especially the bbc. they know nothing about football

[weatherallc05]

@benmarks1984 there was brian clough available , but who else?? thats my problem, who else could we give the job at the time

[paul202011]

the average football fan doesnt want to watch 15 consecutive passes, no course not, even though Barcelona are the most entertaining side in the world at the moment

[Superhorns3]

Are England much better now?

The football might be nicer but the players seem to care less.

Could have done with GT giving them a bit of motivation at the last world cup!