A selection of Graham Taylor's quotes from his time at Watford

The words appeared in the column of respected ex-Northern Ireland and Spurs footballer Danny Blanchflower. He was quoting the youngest manager in the league, Graham Taylor at Lincoln.

“Such has been this club’s record in previous years, we cannot expect them to come to us. We have to go out to the fans.”

I quoted that in my column Just A Thought that week. To me it just hit the nail on the head but Bonser was unmoved.

Two years later, Graham walked through the portals of Vicarage Road as the new manager and was good as his word. He took the club to the fans. That quote was the first of many GT comments that resonated down the years.

Here is a selection:

“I asked Elton what was his ambition for the club? I thought he would say promotion, perhaps Second (tier) Division football. He replied that he wanted the club to get into Europe. I thought: ‘You will do for me pal.’” (1977)

“Do you want to get to the top, because that is where I am heading? So who among you are coming with me?” - to the players on first meeting them. (1977)

“I think it is incredible Watford go into the second (tier) in the late 1960s and survived for three seasons from what I have seen here.” (1977)

“You don’t get cramp at this club.” - to a player who seemed to feel the onset of muscle contraction. (1977)

“Players will be fined if booked for dissent, late for training or if I view their tackle as over the top, even if the referee does not.” (1977)

“I am not here just to build a team but to build a club. There is no way I can get promotion to Division Three unless I get a Division Three club behind me.” (1977 in Division Four)

“I think many people in the game and outside thought I was a young upstart taking the money from an indulgent pop star. Signing Bertie Mee as assistant-manager brings credibility to the entire enterprise.” (1977)

“Are the fans with us or do we have to this on our own?” he said after fans booed a substitution and heckled a player having an off game. “I thought we were all in this together and it was a community thing. Dennis Booth was given stick but the next day he was out playing Father Christmas to 300 kids; pushed over a pile of pennies for charity in the week and was with the players making a hospital visit. He gives to the community and they should support him when he is struggling in one game.” (1978)

“I am already in Division Two. I will drag them over the line if necessary” – when the Hornets faltered in the Division Three promotion run-in. (1979)

“My ambition is to plant Watford in the top flight, not just gain promotion to Division One.” (1980)

“If that is not the greatest ever cup result, I am bloody annoyed.” – after Watford overturned a 4-0 deficit to beat Southampton 7-1. (1980)

“I like that comment you wrote about achieving the Impossible Dream. That sums it up. I will be using that if you don’t mind” – after I had written the phrase stating the majority of fans thought top-flight status was beyond the Hornets, judging by a number of letters we received, critical of the club. (1981)

“It’s time we were moving on” - at the outset of the 1981-82 season.

“We will have a dug out for the managers and coaches when the Vicarage Road end is covered. When the supporters are shielded from the rain, we shall be too.” (1981)

“Of course I know there will be times when we will get our bottoms smacked.” – at the outset of the first season in the top flight. (1982)

“If people think I spend my time on the training field teaching my players to kick a ball 50 yards down the middle, then it is an insult to my intelligence and I wonder at theirs.” – when Taylor and Watford were criticised for their tactics. (1982)

“We patented the ‘explosion’ free-kick and played in-swinging corners with near-post flick-ons. People expected us to play the ball down the middle and when we didn’t they struggled to explain how they lost.” (1993)

“What we did was lay down a challenge. The Liverpools and Nottingham Forests were up for it but we also found out a lot of teams were unable to meet the challenge. When they came up against us, it was not quite what they had been led to believe.” (1983)

“We achieved for this club what has never been achieved before. I challenged the players to do that and they have done it. We have set down a marker and if another group comes along and beats it, so good. But it will still be our marker to beat.” (1983)

“With seven senior players out, I have had to throw kids in because, in reality, there is no choice. So that is the greatest result of my career.” – after overcoming a 3-0 first-leg deficit to beat Kaiserslautern 3-0 in the UEFA Cup first round at Vicarage Road (1983)

“The bottom line is that we made the First Division fitter. That was one lesson they learnt.” (1983)

“That moment at Villa Park, as we went towards the cheering Watford fans, knowing we were in the Cup Final, was the moment I knew. I felt it. I had totally bonded with the locality.” (1984)

“This is going to be a tremendous day for everyone. Enjoy it because we deserve it and I hope supporters realise, win or lose, we are trying to develop a team for the future.” –prior to the Wembley Cup Final (1984)

“To stay in the First Division is an achievement when you look at the big clubs, the wages they are paying and the size of the professional staff. Then you wonder how the hell we are doing it. But I want to get a group of players here together who perhaps, one day can win the title.” – to shareholders. (1984)

“We have been mentioned in parliament and Watford has been cited as the type of football club that induces the right behaviour among supporters. We have a hooligan-free club, a family enclosure and terrace yet despite all this, not once has anyone in an official capacity come to Watford to find out what we have done and why.” – when reports on stadiums and hooliganism were being compiled. (1985)

“They like us. They think we have some good ideas and they think well of us. We were included in the talks about a super league when a lot of others were not included or invited. There is a divide coming at the top of football and we have to make sure we are above that divide.” – when talks which ultimately led to the Premier League were started. (1986)

“I suppose he (Elton) was looking for support from me and I was looking for support from him. Who motivates the motivator? You wrote that neither of us was in the right emotional state of mind to make a decision. I think that was fair comment. I was tired, needed a rest and the chairman was the one person who could have given me six months off to recharge my batteries.” – reflecting on the end of his first era. (1987)

“Freeze the moment of the FA Cup Final. That was the peak of the entire era.” (1990)

The Second Coming

“The reality for clubs like Watford is mid-table First Division (Championship) with anything above as a bonus. We have a lot to achieve on and off the pitch. Judge me in three years.” – upon his return to Watford. (1996)

“Back in 1977, I insisted players lived within ten miles and preferably closer to the ground. I wanted local people to see them shopping etc and for the players to feel the local pulse. Now property prices are such that I can only ask them to live much closer to the ground.” (1996)

“When I first returned to Watford, I had to get into the minds of players as quickly as possible. I asked them to write down what they thought was the best line up and formation. It was a useful exercise. The next thing I read the nationals have got hold of it as ‘schoolmaster Taylor treats players like children’. I was weary of all that.” – among the reasons why he opted for general manager and not team manager upon his return. (1996)

“Elton is coming home.” – announced from the pitch before the final game of the season. (1997)

“Taking off your shirt to celebrate a goal. That is not what is expected of a Watford player.” – reaction to Dai Thomas’s celebration in the 4-0 win at Luton. (1997)

“We will go up and take the title.” – prediction made after picking up three points from 12 with 13 games left to play. (1998 in the third tier)

“Winning Division Two is the beginning of a long road. Don’t lets kid ourselves. The six years we had in the top flight in the 1980s does not mean we are a big club. We spent six years there and 111 outside the top flight.” (1998)

“We have had success so fast, we are operating in the Premiership with a Second Division (third tier) team. We could have done with another year to consolidate but if promotion to the top flight is there, you don’t say ‘no, we’ll wait until next year’.” - to Sunderland boss Peter Reid.

“The players did not deserve the season to peter out after all the work they had put in over 18 months. We were 1-0 down and I had to do something. So I put three strikers on.” – after coming back to beat Tranmere and start an amazing run to the Play-Off Final. (1999)

“You have to live for today. Today is the best day. When I came back out on the pitch and saw 39,000 still filling half of Wembley in all those colours and knowing they appeared to be in heaven and you had played a part in bringing it about, the feeling was indescribable.” – after winning the Play-Off Final and promotion to the Premiership. (1999)

“Most of the TV income from the Premiership was spent on a man who did not kick a ball or score goals – repaying Jack Petchey.” – on the lack of transfer investment . (2000)

“Even though I knew this was going to be a hard battle, and the injuries certainly did not help, I was confident I would keep us out of the bottom three. I should have managed it better.” – upon relegation from the top flight. (2000)

“There is no disgrace in Watford being a yo-yo club between the top two divisions, because sometimes they can be a yo, if you know what I mean.” (2000)

“We were going well and above Fulham by rights but then we were comfortably beaten at home by a scratch Manchester United side in the cup. It worried me. I wondered if it was in the whites of their eyes, that experience, and brought them down to earth. You don’t go 15 games without a defeat and only draw one of the next eight. It doesn’t happen, yet it did. We never recovered.” – reflecting on his final season. (2001)

“I was lining up players like Peter Crouch to come in before the deadline and I realised I would not be here when their contracts ended. I wanted to retire before then, so it would not have been fair on them. So I just decided retiring now was the right thing to do.” – on his retirement decision. (2001)

“Very few people know themselves when it is the right time to go. I did. It took the board ten years to get fed up with me in the 70s and 80s, and five years in the 90s and 2000s.” – retirement reflections.

“Like you, I don’t feel very confident about the appointment of Luca Vialli. But we will keep that to ourselves for the time being.” – summer 2001.

“I am all for fans having memories of Holton and Furphy etc. I would like to think they will look back on my time here and think ‘he didn’t do a bad job’. And I want people to be able to say: ‘That’s when Graham Taylor was here’.” (1977)

On The Board

“Now I can see and I do not believe what has been going on at this club since I was last here. Then again, I said that last time.” (2009)

“I want to resign as chairman but I feel I have got to stay to provide support and protection for Dychie (Sean Dyche). – in the first year of Lawrence Bassini’s ownership. (2011)

Postscript

“Long after the exact results are forgotten, style is the thing you remember most.” Danny Blanchflower unwittingly predicting the feelings of Watford fans following Taylor’s death.