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"Graham Taylor was hard done by"


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As likeable as he was, this is a common myth about the former England manager's failure to get through the (fairly easy) Euro 92 group (and subsequent failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup). This is often cited because superstar midfielder Paul Gascoigne had famously sustained a terrible injury the year before, and Tony Adams, Paul Parker and John Barnes were also injured for the tournament. However, here are the fit players he left out of Euro 92:

 

Gary Pallister - PFA Player of the Year, but chose Keith Curle instead

Chris Waddle - at the time a regular starter for one of the best sides in Europe, chose Tony Daley instead

Ian Wright - top goalscorer in England at the time

Steve McManaman - young player of the year runner-up (behind Ryan Giggs)

Lee Sharpe - chose Andy Sinton instead

Mark Hateley - seasoned continental striker who'd scored goals for a number of Europe's top clubs

Steve Bruce - had scored 19 goals for Man Utd the season before, as a defender

Paul Ince - chose Neil Webb and Carlton Palmer instead

David Seaman - chose Chris Woods instead

Teddy Sheringham - sold that summer for a huge £2.1m

Peter Beardsley - one of Liverpool/England's star forwards in late 80s/early 90s, great season at Everton in 91-92

Matt Le Tissier (before he was fat)

 

I just feel that history has been a bit kinder to him than he deserves.....

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Especially during the summer when there's less to chat about other than transfer related stuff.  I don't think it harms the forum to have a few football threads not related to Boro.  And most people o

You are correct. It’s quite nice to have a new interesting thread title to draw us in and make us think.    Sometimes people can be a bit too parochial on here at times. 

He did, which is where the game in Holland comes in I guess, as I'd say a seriously bad refereeing decision cost us big time in that game.  Not only would they have been down to ten men, Koeman scored

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Fair points.

But I think history has maybe been kinder to him because the immediate aftermath was pretty harsh. Also we tend to be kinder to people after they pass on.

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1 minute ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

What's this got to do with Boro though

Its almost like people don't know there is a Non-Boro Football section of the forum... 🤷‍♂️

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38 minutes ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

Also, is it McLaren's fault we failed to qualify for Euro 2008 and was the media's constant vilification of him fair? 

"Wally with a brolly" for instance?

Nah, that was the players' fault.

By that time we were well into the era of overpaid, under-performing prima donnas and the main problem seemed to be trying to play Lampard & Gerrard in the same team, rather than actually finding a system that worked.

During Taylor's reign I think we had more genuinely talented (and less egotistical) players to pick from...and the rest of the world hadn't fully overtaken us in terms of footballing ability & philosophy by then.

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I don't think there is a perception that he was hard done by at all. I think you just made that up because you liked the sound of it as a thread title.

In fact the opposite is probably true. His achievements at club level are ignored because he is remembered as a useless England manager who embarrassed himself in a fly on the wall documentary. 

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12 minutes ago, Bosco's Tuft said:

I don't think there is a perception that he was hard done by at all. I think you just made that up because you liked the sound of it as a thread title.

In fact the opposite is probably true. His achievements at club level are ignored because he is remembered as a useless England manager who embarrassed himself in a fly on the wall documentary. 

Did he embarrass himself?  I've watched it a few times, and honestly never thought his behaviour was embarrassing.  For the most part he acted quite dignified despite the pressure he was under, and the relentless crap that he was getting from the media.  He was rightly *** off during the game in Holland, where the referee stitched us up.  Even then after ranting a bit at the officials there's a bit where he's friendly and calm with the fourth official, which I'd say shows the decency of the man.  Was he a great England manager, nah of course not, but he also wasn't absolutely terrible.  His record is around that of Venables and Robson I believe, the difference being that they did something in tournament football, and Taylor's England didn't other than getting knocked out in the group stage of Euro 92.  Maybe it's worth remembering that in '86 we won two games at the World Cup.  In '88 we won 0 games at the Euros.  In '90 we won 3 games at the World Cup, two of them after extra time.  In '96 we won two games at the Euros.  I suspect Robson and Venables would be far more fondly remembered than Taylor but arguably the difference in their perceived success, and Taylor's perceived failure, isn't really that great.

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2 hours ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

Also, is it McLaren's fault we failed to qualify for Euro 2008 and was the media's constant vilification of him fair? 

"Wally with a brolly" for instance?

He had a good squad available to him too.

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1 hour ago, Bosco's Tuft said:

I don't think there is a perception that he was hard done by at all. I think you just made that up because you liked the sound of it as a thread title.

In fact the opposite is probably true. His achievements at club level are ignored because he is remembered as a useless England manager who embarrassed himself in a fly on the wall documentary. 

Wow, what a confrontational response. I didn't 'make it up', though the perception may not have been unanimous.

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54 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Did he embarrass himself?  I've watched it a few times, and honestly never thought his behaviour was embarrassing.  For the most part he acted quite dignified despite the pressure he was under, and the relentless crap that he was getting from the media.  He was rightly *** off during the game in Holland, where the referee stitched us up.  Even then after ranting a bit at the officials there's a bit where he's friendly and calm with the fourth official, which I'd say shows the decency of the man.  Was he a great England manager, nah of course not, but he also wasn't absolutely terrible.  His record is around that of Venables and Robson I believe, the difference being that they did something in tournament football, and Taylor's England didn't other than getting knocked out in the group stage of Euro 92.  Maybe it's worth remembering that in '86 we won two games at the World Cup.  In '88 we won 0 games at the Euros.  In '90 we won 3 games at the World Cup, two of them after extra time.  In '96 we won two games at the Euros.  I suspect Robson and Venables would be far more fondly remembered than Taylor but arguably the difference in their perceived success, and Taylor's perceived failure, isn't really that great.

He did fail to qualify for a world cup though, which is the only time its happened since the 70s.

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2 hours ago, AnglianRed said:

Its almost like people don't know there is a Non-Boro Football section of the forum... 🤷‍♂️

TBH I do find it hard to navigate this site, mainly cos of the really long threads. I actually thought (though hadn't checked) that the non-Boro bit was just one long thread.

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13 minutes ago, atypical_boro said:

He did fail to qualify for a world cup though, which is the only time its happened since the 70s.

He did, which is where the game in Holland comes in I guess, as I'd say a seriously bad refereeing decision cost us big time in that game.  Not only would they have been down to ten men, Koeman scored the opening goal later on as well!  I'm not one for blaming referees, and I don't generally do it at all, but that was as blatant a red card as you will ever see, and it's one case where it absolutely altered what happened during the rest of the game in my opinion.  Holland only finished 2 points ahead of us in qualifying, and that was the second last game for both of us.  Any other result and we qualify ahead of them.  That's what I mean about the difference between success and failure not being that great really.  Taylor was a solid enough domestic manager, he'd done well with Watford and Villa, albeit playing a certain way.  Some of the press treatment of him was appalling.  Robson got it as well, in the build up to the 1990 World Cup, him and the England squad got loads of grief in the tabloids, then we got to the semi finals and they were heroes 🤷‍♂️

If the question is was Taylor a good England manager then I'd lean towards no.  He made some questionable selections, and we didn't get the required results.  I wouldn't put him as terrible though, Keegan had a worse record for example.  I'd just say he was someone who might have been overpromoted into the job because he was seen as a nice safe choice at the time, and the FA like nice safe choices - Ron Greenwood ahead of Brian Clough being an obvious example.  However, it's also worth remembering that the best managers in English football at the time were probably Kenny Dalglish and George Graham, who are both Scottish.  Ferguson was struggling at Man Utd but is also Scottish anyway.  I guess people like Howard Kendall, and Brian Clough again would have been options, Venables as well, but Taylor probably stacked up against those for the most part as Villa had just finished as runners up to Liverpool.

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