Graham Taylor was a football rebel who who "stood up for what he believed was right," according to the vicar leading his funeral.

Rev John Samways described the change Graham Taylor made to Watford Football Club's fortunes.

SEE ALSO: Graham Taylor funeral - live blog

He said Taylor "stood up for what he believed was right" when so many "are just in it for the money" and he "was not changed by power or promotion".

Taylor was the youngest player to be selected for the England schoolboy team, the congregation heard.

Rev Samways told how it took Taylor 18 months to retile the bathroom and how a shelf for his daughter's dolls began to bow because it was not put up straight.

He added: "As many of you know he only learnt to speak when he was five, but many of you would say 'by God, he's made up for that now.'"

He also paid tribute to Taylor's "playful sense of fun" and dedication to his family, even bunking off school to visit his sister Margaret in hospital with appendicitis.

Taylor met his future wife Rita at the age of 13 during a school play, saying to his friend "I'm going to marry that girl" just six years before their wedding in 1965.

Their daughter Karen married the same weekend Taylor was made England manager.

Former Watford club chaplin John Boyers paid respect to Taylor's "long and fruitful life in football."

Amazing Grace played as family and friends left the church following the emotional 90 minute service.

Applause rippled from the hundreds of fans gathered outside when the coffin was loaded back into the hearse and driven away for a private burial as rays of sunshine broke through the rain spattered sky.

Arsenal manager Arsenal Wenger, whose team were beaten by Taylor's old club Watford the night before, also attended the funeral.