Peter Taylor (footballer, born 1928)

Nottingham Forest Peter Taylor was born on 2 July 1928, one of eight children in the Meadows, Nottingham to Tom and Jenny Taylor, an engineer and housewife, respectively. He met his future wife, Lily Thorpe, at the age of 14, who persuaded him to play for her father's team, local non-League side Christchurch. He later moved on to play for Mapperley Methodists before he was spotted by Nottingham Forest and signed to their youth team, the Forest Colts. He made his first-team debut for the club as an amateur in a wartime fixture against local rivals Notts County at Meadow Lane in 1944, at the age of 16. Coventry City He signed with Coventry City on his 17th birthday, though was initially only a part-time player as his father insisted that he also complete an apprenticeship in bricklaying. Under the stewardship of Harry Storer, Coventry finished seventh in the Second Division in 1950–51, and Taylor made his debut in the Football League on the final day of the season, breaking Alf Wood's run of 261 consecutive first-team appearances. The Birmingham Sports Argus described how "if Peter's role [back-up goalkeeper to Wood] has denied him the glamour of a glorious achievement in action, he has his share of personal glamour. He's a tall, fair-haired good looker and so comely that he was described as the film star of Highfield Road. Is single too." Middlesbrough Taylor was sold to Middlesbrough in the summer of 1955 for £3,500 by new Coventry manager Jesse Carver, following an assessment of the playing staff by Carver and new coach George Raynor. Taylor spotted Clough's potential and helped him to achieve a place in the first-team. Taylor initially contacted Storer, now manager of Derby County, to try and get him to sign Clough. Storer had told him he had spent the club's budget on signing Martin McDonnell and Paddy Ryan. Manager Bob Dennison led "Boro" to 14th in the Second Division in 1955–56, seeing both Clough and Taylor only as "useful reserves". The pair spent their spare time coaching schoolboys to boost their wages and to gain experience. Largely unneeded at Vale Park, Ken Hancock being a virtual ever-present from 1960 to 1964, his only appearance was in a 2–1 Third Division defeat at Bradford Park Avenue on 3 February 1962. He left on a free transfer for Burton Albion in May 1962, where he began his management career. ==Management career==

Burton Albion In October 1962, Taylor was offered the manager's job at Burton Albion after impressing chairman Trevor Grantham with his knowledge and theories on the game. In summer 1963 he oversaw a complete overhaul of the playing staff, only retaining four players, and completely rebuilt the squad. He signed strikers Richie Barker and Stan Round, who would score a combined 308 goals for the club, and remain the club's two highest goalscorers (as of 2021). He survived calls for his resignation after a defeat to Kidderminster Harriers in the FA Cup and went on to create one of the most successful sides in Burton's history, beating Weymouth to win the Southern League Cup in 1964. In 1965, he walked out on a newly signed £34-a-week three-year contract at Burton to become Clough's assistant manager at Hartlepools United on wages of £24 a week. His successor, Alex Tait, led Burton to promotion out of the Southern League Division One in 1965–66. Hartlepool United {{Quote box Before their arrival, Hartlepool had been forced to apply for re-election to the Football League five times in the previous six years. Taylor stated that the squad were all free transfer signings and some of the players struggled with "drink, debt or abandoned wives". The two gradually turned around the club's fortunes. They started by painting Victoria Park. Taylor had little chance to show his skills in the transfer market as the club only had £7,500 to spend, £4,000 of which went on centre-half Johnny Gill. Other signings included two of Taylor's former players at Burton, defender Tony Parry and goalkeeper Les Green; Parry would go on to win the club's Player of the Year award. The pair went on to lead the club to an eighth-place finish in the Fourth Division in 1966–67 after replacing most of the playing staff, an improvement on 1965–66 when the pair had only managed an 18th-place finish. On 15 November 1966, the then chairman, Ernest Ord, who was known for playing mind games with managers, sacked Taylor saying he couldn't afford to pay him anymore. Clough refused to accept it, so Ord sacked him as well. However, there was a boardroom coup where they refused to ratify the two sackings and which instead saw Ord ousted as chairman. Both Clough and Taylor were reinstated. Clough had initially wanted to quit the club numerous times due to interference from Ord, but Taylor insisted that they stay as they could not walk out on their first job in management. After Ord resigned as chairman, Clough wanted to remain at Hartlepool, but Taylor persuaded him to take the offer to manage Derby. At Derby, Taylor and Clough proceeded to re-build the side, with Taylor instrumental in signing players such as Dave Mackay and Roy McFarland. Future England centre-half McFarland, who he described as an "uncut diamond" from the Third Division, was his first signing for a fee of £24,000. Other signings he initiated included winger John McGovern (whom the pair had signed at Hartlepools and would follow Clough on to Leeds and Nottingham) and full-back John Robson. After the 1967–68 season had finished with the club fifth from bottom in the Second Division, Clough and Taylor had released 16 players and numerous more staff members, including "a tea lady who laughed after a bad defeat". Derby were promoted to the First Division in 1968–69, prompting chairman Sydney Bradley to state that "Brian and Peter built an ocean liner out of a shipwreck". Derby finished fourth in 1969–70, and then strengthened again from a player Taylor had scouted, signing midfielder Archie Gemmill from Preston North End for £64,000. Most signings involved scouting from Taylor, with the only two transfers he had played no part in being Clough's former Sunderland teammates Colin Todd and John O'Hare. Following a ninth-place finish in 1970–71, Derby went on to win the League Championship in 1971–72 – the first in the club's history. Clough and Taylor continued to strengthen the club in the transfer market however, with Taylor noting that "a manager should always be looking for signs of disintegration in a winning side and then sell the players responsible before possible buyers notice their deterioration". Derby reached the semi-finals of the European Cup the following season, controversially losing to Juventus; Taylor had spotted Juventus player Helmut Haller talking with referee Gerhard Schulenberg at half-time and described how a "squad of heavies" restrained him after he attempted to overhear the pair's conversation. Clough went on to call the Italian team "cheating bastards". On 15 October 1973, both he and Clough resigned, partially after a dispute with the Derby board over Taylor's crucial but largely undefined role. However, numerous reasons were behind Clough and Taylor's resignation. Taylor, in particular, had been frustrated by what he felt was a lack of support from the club's directors over the pair's transfer policy. The pair had come close to leaving Derby earlier, turning down offers to manage Coventry City and the Greece national team. Fans protested against the board following their resignation, and the players also demanded they be reinstated, but chairman Sam Longson's relationship with Clough and Taylor was irreparable. Brighton & Hove Albion Clough was appointed as manager at Third Division Brighton & Hove Albion on 1 November 1973, with Taylor joining as his assistant. Just after the pair were appointed, the team lost 4–0 at home to Walton & Hersham in an FA Cup replay and then 8–2 at home to Bristol Rovers on 1 December. Brighton finished 19th in the final table in the 1973–74 season, narrowly avoiding relegation to the Fourth Division, and the pair began to rebuild the team by signing Peter Grummitt, Andy Rollings, Ian Mellor, Steve Govier and Ken Goodeve; Taylor felt that Clough never settled at Brighton however, and spent too much time away on media commitments. Clough left for Leeds United in July 1974. Still, Taylor refused to go with Clough as he felt Brighton and club chairman Mike Bamber had treated them well, and so the partnership ended after nine years as Taylor stayed at the Goldstone Ground as sole manager. He went on to sign striker Peter Ward and midfielder Brian Horton but admitted that both he and Clough were much more effective as a duo; he felt that he had struggled to make the good players he signed to play to their full potential whilst feeling that Clough had bought and sold poorly as Leeds manager. He stayed on at the South Coast club for a further two seasons, guiding the team to a fourth-place finish in 1975–76, missing promotion by two points. His successor, Alan Mullery, managed to lead the team Taylor left behind to promotion in 1976–77 and then into the top-flight in 1978–79. After assessing the players Taylor told Clough "that was a feat by you to finish eighth in the Second Division because some of them are only Third Division players". He then berated John Robertson for allowing himself to become overweight and disillusioned, and got Robertson on a diet and training regime that would help him to become a top international. He also spotted Tony Woodcock playing for the reserves and converted him from an unwanted midfielder into a striker who would win 42 caps for England. In September 1976, he bought striker Peter Withe for £43,000, and sold him on to Newcastle United for £250,000 two years later. Withe was replaced in the starting eleven by Garry Birtles, who Taylor had scouted playing for non-League Long Eaton United; Birtles would also go on to represent England. The first trophy of the Clough and Taylor reign was the 1976–77 Anglo-Scottish Cup. Forest beat Orient 5–1 on aggregate in the two-legged final played in December 1976. Within a year of Taylor's arrival, Forest were promoted to the First Division after securing the third automatic promotion place in 1976–77. Taylor and Clough then decided to replace goalkeeper John Middleton with Peter Shilton, whom they purchased for £270,000; Taylor reasoned: "Shilton wins you matches." After spending some time secretly following Kenny Burns he concluded that Burns's reputation as a hard drinker and gambler was exaggerated and he sanctioned a £145,000 move for the player, who would become FWA Footballer of the Year in 1977–78 after being converted from centre-forward to a sweeper role. Clough and Taylor were appointed joint-managers of the England youth team in December 1977, but the pair resigned after less than a year in charge as Forest's success meant they struggled to make time also to coach the England players. In their first season back in the top division, Forest won the Championship by a seven-point margin ahead of runners-up Liverpool, conceding just 24 goals in 42 league games. In February 1979, Taylor authorised the English game's first £1 million transfer when Forest purchased Trevor Francis from Birmingham City. Taylor later reported that Clough had been holding out for a fee of £925,000 until Taylor rang Birmingham to confirm the deal at £1 million before ringing Clough to say, "We've got Francis, I've just paid their price"; Clough replied simply by saying "Good", and then put down the phone. Forest started the 1978–79 season by beating Ipswich Town 5–0 for a Charity Shield record win. On 9 December 1978, Liverpool ended Forest's 42 match unbeaten league run dating back to the November the year before. At the end of the season Forest won the European Cup with a 1–0 victory over Malmö FF at the Olympiastadion. They also won the League Cup again after beating Southampton 3–2; Taylor led the team out at Wembley as Clough felt it was Taylor's turn – they always wanted to lead their team out together but were always denied permission by Football League chairman Alan Hardaker. After this success Forest bought Asa Hartford and Frank Gray, though Hartford was sold on after two months after Taylor realised his limited passing range did not fit Forest's style of play. Forest were denied a third consecutive League Cup win in 1980 after a defeat in the final by Wolverhampton Wanderers. The European Cup was retained in 1980, this time against Kevin Keegan's Hamburger SV at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Clough and Taylor then began the process of breaking up the championship winning team, selling off Martin O'Neill, Ian Bowyer, Garry Birtles, and Larry Lloyd; as a new team was built based around youngsters such as Gary Mills, Stuart Gray, Colin Walsh, and Bryn Gunn. New signings included striker Ian Wallace and Switzerland international Raimondo Ponte. Taylor retired in May 1982 after Forest finished 12th in the league, with recent signings Justin Fashanu and Raimondo Ponte proving to be unsuccessful. Clough would stay at Forest for another 11 seasons, but without Taylor would only add two League Cups and two Full Members Cups to the club's trophy cabinet, and would struggle against alcoholism. At the time, Derby were going through serious financial problems and were at the bottom of the table, but he steered them to a mid-table position by the end of the season with a 15-match unbeaten run. In the third round of the FA Cup on 8 January 1983 they knocked out Clough's Forest team with a 2–0 win at the Baseball Ground. They reached the fifth round, where they were knocked out by Manchester United. However, the following season saw the team struggle again. Taylor resigned in early April 1984, with the club third from bottom of the Second Division before Derby were relegated. However, the team did manage to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, and the revenue obtained from the cup run helped to keep the club afloat. ==Relationship with Clough==

Clough said, "I'm not equipped to manage successfully without Peter Taylor. I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back." The two worked as a pair by complementing each other's strengths, as Clough had a forceful personality and was adept at motivating players, whilst Taylor was more reserved. However, he could spot talented players. Former Hartlepools player Cliff Wright described the pair as "good cop, bad cop. Cloughie would knock you to the ground, verbally at least, and Pete would pick you up and put you back together." As the bigger personality and the man with the title of manager, Clough garnered much greater publicity than Taylor, which caused Taylor to grumble that "I sometimes wonder why he never says to Bell's whisky, for instance, when they're handing out Manager of the Month awards, 'You'll have to present an extra gallon bottle. There are two of us." On a personal level, they were very close and often finished each other's sentences. Though Taylor's friendship and partnership with Clough had been strong, their relationship sometimes became strained. While at Derby in 1971, Taylor was riled when he learned that Clough had failed to disclose to him that he had received a pay rise of £5,000 from chairman Sam Longson. He was also annoyed that Clough was often away earning extra money from media work while he was left to do a larger share of the work with the players. The relationship worsened in the autumn of 1980 when Taylor published With Clough, by Taylor, an autobiography which was largely based on Taylor's work with Clough. Taylor had not told Clough he was writing the book and did not give him a share of the proceeds. In February 1972 Taylor was approached by and received an offer from Frank O'Farrell to be his number two at Manchester United. The United board rejected the offer because of apparent fear from Busby about Clough mounting a campaign against the club in the media. Although they initially parted on good terms when Taylor retired in May 1982 and spent time together that summer in Cala Millor the relationship was severely strained when Taylor became manager of Derby County in November 1982, and finally damaged permanently after a dispute over the transfer in May 1983 of John Robertson from Forest to Derby, where Taylor was now managing. Clough was angered that Taylor did not inform him about the deal. ==Death==

On 4 October 1990, Peter Taylor died suddenly of pulmonary fibrosis while on holiday in Costa De Los Pinos, Mallorca, at the age of 62. When told of Taylor's death by Ron Fenton, Clough did not speak and put the phone down on him. While deeply upset, he also made a phone call to the Taylor family. Clough, along with the rest of his family, attended the funeral 11 days later at St Peter's Church, Widmerpool as did around 250 people, including Colin Todd, David Nish, Roy McFarland, Larry Lloyd, Alan Durban, Jimmy Gordon, Nigel Clough, Arthur Cox, Frank Clark, David Pleat, Jimmy Sirrel, Kevin Hector, Peter Withe and Archie Gemmill. Clough dedicated his 1994 autobiography to Taylor, saying, "To Peter. Still miss you badly. You once said: 'When you get shot of me there won't be as much laughter in your life'. You were right." ==Career statistics==

Playing statistics Managerial statistics ==Honours==

. Burton Albion • Southern League Cup: 1964 Derby County (with Clough) • Football League Second Division: 1968–69 • Anglo-Scottish Cup: 1976–77 In August 2010, Derby County unveiled a statue of Clough and Taylor at Pride Park Stadium. In September 2015, Nottingham Forest announced that the Main Stand at the City Ground would be renamed the Peter Taylor Stand as part of the club's 150th anniversary celebrations. ==References==