Graham Taylor

His playing career began with as an apprentice for Scunthorpe United. He then went on to join Grimsby Town in 1962 and played his first competitive game for them in September 1963 against Newcastle United when they won 2–1. He played 189 games at fullback for Grimsby Town, scoring twice. He was transferred to Lincoln City in the summer of 1968 for a fee of £4,000, scoring once in 150 appearances before being forced to retire from playing following a serious hip injury in 1972.

Records

Taylor was the only manager to have twice led teams that amassed over 70 points in one Football League season under the League's original scoring system of two points for a win and one point for a draw. This system was introduced for the inaugural 1888–89 season and was retained for over 90 years until the reward for a win was increased to three points in 1981. He achieved this with Lincoln City (74 points – 1976) and Watford (71 points – 1978). Only two other clubs, Doncaster Rovers (72 points – 1947) and Rotherham United (71 points – 1951), managed to gain over 70 points in one season under the original scoring system.

Lincoln City (1972–1977)

Taylor was the youngest person to become an FA coach, at the age of 27. Following his retirement from playing, and a spell as player coach, Taylor became manager of Lincoln City, being the youngest manager in the league at the age of 28, on 7 December 1972 after David Herd resigned. In his first season Lincoln finished 10th, then 12th in 1974, but the following season narrowly missed out on promotion after a 3–2 defeat at Southport on 28 April 1975. Taylor led Lincoln to the Fourth Division title in 1976; his team's 32 wins, 4 defeats and 74 points were all league records (when 2 points were awarded for a win). Lincoln finished 9th in the Third Division in 1976-1977 under Taylor.

Watford (1977–1987)

In June 1977, Taylor was hired to manage Watford by new owner Elton John. He turned down an approach…

Born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Taylor moved in 1947 to a council house in Scunthorpe, where his father, Tom, was the sports reporter for the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. He went to the Henderson Avenue Junior School, then Scunthorpe Grammar School (now The St Lawrence Academy), where he met his future wife, Rita, from Winteringham. He played for the England Grammar Schools football team, and joined the sixth form after passing six O-levels in 1961, but he left after one year to pursue a full-time career in football. His head teacher disapproved of his actions and told him: "Grammar school boys don't become footballers".

In 2003, Taylor became vice-president at Division Three club Scunthorpe United, his hometown club. From 2004, he worked as a pundit on BBC Radio 5 Live, and managed a team of celebrities for Sky One's annual series, The Match. His time at Scunthorpe saw a turnaround in the club's fortunes. In his first season on the board, they narrowly avoided relegation to the Conference. The following season, they were promoted to League One. Two years after that, they were promoted to the Championship as League One champions. Taylor returned to Watford on 23 January 2009, being appointed to the new board as a non-executive director and was appointed interim chairman on 16 December 2009. Taylor announced his resignation from his position as chairman on 30 May 2012. He retained the position of honorary life president of the club until his death in 2017. In 2014, Watford renamed the Rous Stand the Graham Taylor Stand to honour his achievements in two spells at the club.