Graham Taylor talks...

Why, having turned down Watford’s approach, did you have a change of heart?

Well, when Watford first approached me, it was an inopportune moment. I have always instilled it in my players that one achieves one’s final position after playing 46 games. Watford came through when we had played 39-40 games. I just did not feel it would be good to be seen talking to a Division 4 club when the season was not over.

Why, having been linked with Leicester and West Bromwich, did you choose Watford?

I have always fancied a challenge. I want to get into Division 1 and I know that coming to Watford does not really add up. Yet the people of Watford will have to get to know me to understand me.

The much quoted £20,000 compensation makes you the fifth most expensive purchase the club has made to date. Do you think this fact, along with your reported salary, limit your ability to appeal to the public?

I wouldn’t have thought so at all. Irrespective of what you cost or earn, people will watch you when you are winning. It’s a spectator sport. It’s not my club, it’s not the players’ club and, with respect, it’s not Mr John’s club. It is the supporters’ club, it belongs to the town and its people and we represent them.

But it must be a two-way commitment. Supporters can and do commit themselves by attending and supporting but there are other ways. I do not know enough about Watford at the moment to list those ways, but it can mean putting your hand in your pocket for 10p a week or whatever.

The club is far bigger than all that and we all have to care. Football is a live spectator sport and no one knows how much that would be missed until it has gone. We must make sure we do our best to preserve it.

Cash was not the main or only reason I came to Watford. I have always looked for a challenge. I have met the chairman and people can misinterpret him. His interest in the game and his enthusiasm for what he is trying to do is very sincere. I am there to protect that sincerity and help the chairman and board of directors to achieve those aims.

If cash was the only reason behind my move to Watford, I would not have taken three weeks thinking over their offer.

Do you think too much will be expected of you initially?

People may be looking for results straight away but we may have a worse start than last year. I know I won’t get it right in one year. It took me four years to get anywhere at Lincoln and I firmly believe it is the most stable and best organised outfit in the lower divisions.

Could you briefly sum up your playing career?

That’s it... brief. My highest honour, I must start with this and give my ego a trip ... was schoolboy international honours. I was one of those who didn’t subsequently make it and from there I went steadily down. I went to Division 2 Grimsby and after two seasons helped to take them down to the Third. I spent seven years in all at Grimsby playing in either full back position before joining Lincoln in 1968.

In 1972, I was fortunate in a way, that I had to retire with a hip injury at the age of 28 and was able to start what so far is four and a half years of management. I am not going to go into any job where you cannot be your own man. Some people are so eager to get to Division 1 that it is small wonder there are so many sackings.

They are so keen they do not bother about job description or status and find themselves pushed and pulled into so many situations.

What, in essence, are your football beliefs?

You never get something for nothing. That is the message I will be giving the players. I think one has to be firm, straight and honest, and you have to be seen to be that.

Have you modelled yourself on any managers? Who in the game do you admire?

I have never really modelled myself on anyone, although Jimmy McGuigan at Rotherham influenced me. I like to be my own man. I admire Dave Sexton, who gets things achieved in a quiet way. Ron Saunders too has done a first class job. But after Liverpool, one of the biggest achievements of the season was at Newport. People tend to look at the top too often, but one has to admire and appreciate what Colin Addison has achieved.

Have you any set patterns or systems?

Football is a simple game. It is the players, coaches and people who make it difficult. There are two sides to football. You either have the ball or you have to get it back. But with me, individuals are allowed to express themselves. No team really plays off the cuff football. Some sides might play with such understanding that it might appear that way but understanding is a thing which they don’t need to be taught.

Systems don’t win games. It is individuals, players who win games.

Apart from when you recorded the double over Watford, have you seen them play?

No. Then, as manager of Lincoln, I was concerned with their weaknesses and told my players how to use these. At that time I was not concerned with their strengths. I will be looking for those strengths, the assets, as soon as I see the players. I will not be too worried about the weaknesses initially. What I want to know is what they are good at and use those strengths in our pattern of play.

Are you worried that fans may expect too much?

It was three years at Lincoln before we went up. I would ask fans to be sensible but enthusiastic. If it happens, promotion that is, in the first season then I’ll be over the moon. But there is no way I can get promotion with a Division 3 team if you haven’t got a Division 3 club.

Do you feel your reputation as a hard man may worry the players?

They may read or misread things but I think they will find all I am asking for is straightness, firmness, effort, self-discipline and responsibility.

We finished eighth last season. Maybe we will finish tenth this season, but I may feel happy with that even though the fans will not, purely because I can see things inside the club changing.

The game is not just about cash. It is about glory and appreciating the good things. Fans want excitement and that means incidents in the penalty area. We in football are sometimes guilty of being arrogant and resent the fact that the man on the terrace has a right to say what he wants to see.

Does that mean you feel they have changed the game of football without asking the public if they wanted it changed?

To an extent. It is the fans who must be considered. This is a game of live entertainment and it is entertainment for the fans. That is what we have to remember and that is why I am no great lover of patient football. The fans don’t come to see patient football, they come to see football and excitement.

You talk about stability and the like. What are your first impressions of Watford?

Give me time to get that stability of discipline and continuity. It may take time, it may be achieved quickly, but I feel there is a complete lack of discipline in the club as far as I’m concerned. Don’t let’s kid ourselves. I am conscious of the fact I have done nothing but talk, but let’s face it, there is a hard job on here. I will commit myself to Watford and I will approach this job as if I will be here for ever. It is all very well talking about Division 1, but we are still in Division 4. I want a stable club first, then we can talk about progress.

[From the Watford Observer of June 24, 1977]