Peter Taylor (footballer born 1953)

:"For the former Derby County/Nottingham Forest manager/assistant manager, also a manager of Brighton & Hove Albion, who died in 1990, see Peter Taylor (footballer born 1928). For other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor."Football manager infobox
playername = Peter Taylor


fullname = Peter John Taylor
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1953|1|3
cityofbirth = Southend-on-Sea
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Wycombe Wanderers (manager)
position = Winger
years = 1970–1973
1973–1976
1976–1980
1980–1983
1983
1983–1984
clubs = Southend United
Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur
Leyton Orient
→ Oldham Athletic (loan)
Exeter City
Total
caps(goals) = 075 0(12)
122 0(33)
123 0(31)
056 0(11)
004 00(0)
008 00(0)
388 0(87)
nationalyears = 1975–1976
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 004 00(2)
manageryears = 1986–1990
1993–1995
1995–1996
1996–1999
1999–2000
2000–2001
2000
2001–2002
2002–2006
2004–2007
2006–2007
2007–2008
2008–
managerclubs = Dartford
Southend United
Dover Athletic
England U21
Gillingham
Leicester City
England (caretaker)
Brighton & Hove Albion
Hull City
England U21
Crystal Palace
Stevenage Borough
Wycombe Wanderers

Peter John Taylor (born January 3, 1953 in Southend-on-Sea) is an English football manager, currently employed at Wycombe Wanderers. He has previously managed Southend United, Gillingham, Leicester City, Brighton and Hove Albion, Hull City, Crystal Palace and Stevenage Borough, as well as having two spells as head coach of the England under-21 team and also taking charge of the England national football team on a caretaker basis in 2000.

Taylor also enjoyed a successful playing career, and during his time with Crystal Palace during the 1970s he was one of the few players to have been selected for the senior England team when not playing in the top flight of a domestic league.

Playing career

Taylor enjoyed a successful playing career as a winger, playing for Canvey Island, [cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2000/12/10/sfgcan11.xml|title=FA Cup: Canvey Island sink but not without trace|first=Paul|last=Hayward|publisher="The Daily Telegraph"|date=2000-12011|accessdate=2008-05-09] Southend United, Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur, Leyton Orient and Oldham Athletic, as well as winning four international caps for England (despite being at Third Division Palace at the time), before embarking on a career as a coach and manager. In total he made 388 league appearances and scored 87 goals, including more than 100 appearances for both Tottenham and Crystal Palace for whom he scored 64 goals combined.

Management career

Early management

Taylor became player manager at non-league club Dartford. In his four seasons there club attendances rose from 400 to around 1000, he won the Southern Cup twice and each season he was there Dartford scored over 100 goals. Taylor's first managerial role in the Football League was at Southend United. He spent two years (1993–1995) as manager, but quit at the end of the 1994–95 season after failing to get them beyond the middle of the Division One table. Taylor then took on the job as manager of Conference club Dover Athletic in 1995–96 season and guided the club to 20th, enough to stave off the threat of relegation as only two clubs were relegated that season.

England U-21

He agreed and signed a two-year contract at Dover in May 1996 but was to leave the club only two months later after being asked by then England boss Glenn Hoddle to manage the England under-21 side. His record was 15 played; 11 won, 3 drawn and 1 defeat. In this time, England finished ninth in 1998 European Championship and qualified for the 2000 finals comfortably, winning every match without conceding a goal. But with 3 matches to play, Taylor was replaced in a controversial manner by Howard Wilkinson, who won the next two matches. The three goals conceded in the 3–1 defeat to group runners-up Poland were the only blemish on the team's qualifying record. England got knocked out in the qualifying group stage of the European Championships in 2000 under Wilkinson.

Gillingham

Taylor returned to club management at the beginning of the 1999–2000 season with Gillingham, and at the end of the season guided them to victory over Wigan Athletic in the Division Two play-off final which marked the Kent club's promotion to the upper half of the English league for the first time in their history.

Leicester City

A few weeks later he left the club to take charge at Leicester City in the Premier League. After a good start, for two weeks in October Leicester were Premiership leaders, nine defeats in their final ten Premiership fixtures (following a shock FA Cup quarter final defeat by Division Two strugglers Wycombe Wanderers) saw Leicester plummet down the Premiership table to finish 13th. This was despite spending £23 million on transfer fees, the most ever spent by a Leicester manager. Taylor was sacked two months after the start of the 2001–02 season, with Leicester bottom of the league.

England

In November 2000, whilst managing Leicester, Taylor was appointed caretaker manager of England for one match. For that game, a 1–0 defeat to Italy in the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin on 15 November2000, Taylor looked to youth. He handed David Beckham the captain's armband for the first time, and used six players then still eligible for the Under-21s; Gareth Barry, Jamie Carragher, Kieron Dyer, Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey and Seth Johnson.

Brighton & Hove Albion

After being sacked by Leicester, he returned to management within two weeks to take charge at Brighton & Hove Albion whose previous manager Micky Adams had become the new assistant manager of Leicester City. Taylor guided Brighton to the Division Two championship (marking their return to the upper half of the English league after 11-years) but resigned from his job at the end of the season because he was frustrated at the club's lack of financial resources.Fact|date=November 2007

Hull City

In November 2002 Taylor was appointed manager of Hull City who were weeks away from their move to the 25,404-seat KC Stadium. A mid-table finish was followed in 2003–04 by promotion as Division Three runners-up. They finished League One runners-up the following season, 2004–05, and thus reached the Football League Championship in the 2005–06 season – their first appearance at that level since 1990–91, and they finished 18th in the league.

Crystal Palace

Success at Hull drew attention from bigger clubs, and Taylor returned to former club Crystal Palace in June 2006 after Palace agreed a £300,000 compensation package with Hull. He only lasted 16 months at Selhurst Park as he was sacked in October 2007 after a run of poor form left the Eagles hovering dangerously above the bottom three. [Cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crystal_palace/7034020.stm
title = Crystal Palace boss Taylor sacked
accessdate = 2007-10-08
publisher = BBC Sport
date=2007-10-08]

England U-21 (second spell)

Taylor had returned to manage England's U-21 team for a second spell in 2004, combining the role with his job at Hull. England comfortably progressed from their qualification group for the 2006 finals but lost to eventual semi-finalists France in a play-off over two legs. He initially retained his position after joining Crystal Palace, and the team qualified for the 2007 finals. However, he left in January 2007 as the new senior manager, Steve McClaren, wanted the England U-21 manager's role to be a full-time position. Taylor's record in competitive fixtures in his second spell with the U21s was 16 played; 9 won, 5 drawn and 2 lost.

tevenage Borough

A few weeks after his departure from Palace, Taylor was appointed manager of Conference team Stevenage Borough in November 2007. [Cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stevenage/7071851.stm
title = Stevenage name Taylor as new boss
accessdate = 2007-11-01
publisher = BBC Sport
date=2007-11-01] His first purchase in this role was Junior Lewis, a player he had previously brought into five other clubs (Dover, Gillingham, Leicester, Brighton and Hull).

On the 28 April 2008, Peter Taylor resigned as Stevenage Borough manager after only 6 months at the club.

Wycombe Wanderers

On 29 May 2008 he became Wycombe Wanderers manager, following the resignation of Paul Lambert after their failure to reach the League Two play-off final [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wycombe_wanderers/7424474.stm|title= Wycombe name Taylor as new boss|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2008-05-29|accessdate=2008-05-29] . He signed Junior Lewis yet again, this time as first team coach. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wycombe_wanderers/7465506.stm|title= Wycombe bring in Lewis as coach|date=2008-06-20|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-06-20]

Honours

As a player

Southend United
*Fourth Division runner-up: 1971–72
*Essex Professional Cup winner: 1972

As a manager

Dartford
*Southern League Cup winner: 1988, 1989
*Southern League Championship Match winner: 1988, 1989
*Kent Senior Cup winner: 1987, 1988

Gillingham
*Football League Division One Play-Off Final winner: 1999–00

Brighton & Hove Albion
*Football League Division Two winner: 2000–01

Hull City
*Football League Division Three runner-up: 2003–04
*Football League One runner-up: 2004–05

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=1572|name=Peter Taylor

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