Dame Vera Lynn turned 100 last week. I had an album of her greatest hits, largely because they reminded me of being three or four-years-old; listening for Doodlebugs and the warmth and camaraderie of every day life: that feeling that we were all in it together.

One person who would have been looking forward to Dame Vera’s week back in the spotlight was Graham Taylor, an avid fan – not quite as high in his personal list of favourites as Buddy Holly, but certainly significant. Elton John used to tease him about his admiration for Dame Vera, but Graham’s appreciation of the Second World War, despite the fact it was over before he was born, was something he valued and learnt from. We were all in it together: the country pulled as one.

The Vera Lynn event served as another reminder that Graham is no longer with us. As if his passing and funeral plus meeting up with players from yesteryear was not enough to remind me and us of what we knew and had.

His story has been told many times but without going into his successes, I thought it pertinent to go back in time and recall the moments from yesteryear that did not show in the results and fixtures.

It is one of the most hackneyed of sayings that it seems only yesterday, but the fact is that is exactly how it feels. Hearing of his appointment as Watford boss in the summer of 1977, I phoned him at Lincoln and arranged a time and place for an interview. He was coming down to Watford, spending some time with secretary Ron Rollitt and then was going to drop in at the Watford Observer offices.

I recall he phoned me a few days later to ask me if I minded if the Evening Echo representative joined us. I said I did mind. Firstly we were meeting in our offices and secondly we had arranged it long before the rivals came up with a similar request.

I remember worrying that my stance might cause us to get off on the wrong foot but my Editor reassured me that I had made the right decision.

He arrived a little late having squeezed the Evening Echo in for a chat at the club, and we adjourned to our canteen and talked for an hour or more.

Did I think it a significant appointment: a man who was going to turn what some considered as Elton’s pipe dreams into reality? I can only say that I appreciated he had a track record having achieved success at Lincoln: blitzing Watford twice the previous campaign en route to a record points total in Division Four. I had also included his quotes from a couple of years earlier when he talked about Lincoln’s failure and the need to take the club to the people. They were philosophies I endorsed, because Jim Bonser’s reign had the smack of a siege mentality about it, with the chairman regarding any critic as someone to be shunned, banned or excluded.

Elton’s year as chairman had not made a significant difference but his flirting with the possibility of appointing Bobby Moore, a man with no experience of lower division football, demonstrated his ambition if not his wisdom. Moving for a man with a lower division track record seemed far more sensible particularly with top manager Don Revie’s ringing endorsement that Graham was the best of the young coaches.

As for seeing the Yellow Brick Road stretching out to the top flight, Europe and the FA Cup Final, I think we all wrote that off as a fantasy. A couple of promotions might prove handy and perhaps this was the best man to achieve that. Of course, if Graham Taylor racked up progress to the second flight, then he would almost certainly find himself the target for big clubs.

Two people did not think top-flight football and Europe was a fantasy. Elton believed if you worked hard you could achieve your dreams. Graham, as he later admitted, was keen to avoid going to a club such as WBA, who offered him the job, because he would be duplicating past success. The Elton Dream was a challenge: a project to build a team and a club.

Annoyed by Graham’s reluctance to show gratitude for the offer of the post at The Hawthorns, Albion’s Bert Millichip said he should give his right hand for the opportunity. Graham replied that his right hand would stay firmly connected to his arm and shoulder. He took the Watford job.

He had turned down the first approach, made during the season. “I just felt that when Watford came through, we had played 39-40 games. If we had won out last five games we would have gained promotion so I did not think it would be good talking to another club. This would have gone against everything I asked my players,” he told me and in doing so, revealed that he was a man of principle. It was the first clue as to the calibre of the new man, whose honesty and decency would resonate throughout the locality.

Watford paid £20,000 compensation but Taylor dismissed the speculation about being the club’s fifth biggest purchase, stressing the fans would not worry about such things if the results were good.

“It is not my club. It is not the players’ club and, with respect, it is not Mr John’s club. It is the supporters’ club and it belongs to the to the town and its people and we represent them.”

Graham was only the fourth manager I had interviewed on appointment but in those two observations, he encapsulated the view and the philosophy, which would be the lodestar for the next decade.

Oh yes, and in case you might think he walked on water from the outset, he also told me that August - ten months before Watford won the title: “It will take time. I know I won’t get it right in one year.”