 Taylor at the2011 Pan Arab Games | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Peter John Taylor | ||
| Date of birth | (1953-01-03)3 January 1953 (age 72) | ||
| Place of birth | Rochford, England | ||
| Position(s) | Winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1969 | Canvey Island | ||
| 1969–1971 | Southend United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1971–1973 | Southend United | 75 | (12) |
| 1973–1976 | Crystal Palace | 122 | (33) |
| 1976–1980 | Tottenham Hotspur | 123 | (31) |
| 1980–1983 | Leyton Orient | 56 | (11) |
| 1983 | →Oldham Athletic (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 1983–1984 | Exeter City | 8 | (0) |
| 1984–? | Maidstone United | ||
| ?– 1986 | Chelmsford City | ||
| 1986–1990 | Dartford | ||
| 1990–1991 | Enfield | ||
| 1991–1992 | Chelmsford City | ||
| Total | 388 | (87) | |
| International career | |||
| 1974–1975 | England U23 | 4 | (4) |
| 1976 | England | 4 | (2) |
| 1984 | England C | 3 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1986–1990 | Dartford | ||
| 1990–1991 | Enfield | ||
| 1993–1995 | Southend United | ||
| 1995–1996 | Dover Athletic | ||
| 1996–1999 | England U21 | ||
| 1999–2000 | Gillingham | ||
| 2000–2001 | Leicester City | ||
| 2000 | England (caretaker) | ||
| 2001–2002 | Brighton & Hove Albion | ||
| 2002–2006 | Hull City | ||
| 2004–2007 | England U21 | ||
| 2006–2007 | Crystal Palace | ||
| 2007–2008 | Stevenage Borough | ||
| 2008–2009 | Wycombe Wanderers | ||
| 2010–2011 | Bradford City | ||
| 2011–2012 | Bahrain | ||
| 2013 | England U20 | ||
| 2013–2014 | Gillingham | ||
| 2015 | Kerala Blasters | ||
| 2017 | Gillingham (caretaker) | ||
| 2018–2019 | Dagenham & Redbridge | ||
| 2021–2022 | Welling United | ||
| 2022–2023 | Maldon & Tiptree | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Peter John Taylor (born 3 January 1953) is an English formerfootballer who was most recently manager ofMaldon & Tiptree. He was previously manager atDartford,Enfield,Southend United,Dover Athletic,Leicester City,Brighton and Hove Albion,Hull City,Crystal Palace,Kerala Blasters,Stevenage Borough,Wycombe Wanderers,Bradford City and (twice)Gillingham, leaving the last role at the end of 2014. He also had two spells as head coach of theEngland under-21 team and took charge of the England national team as caretaker manager for one game against Italy, for which he madeDavid Beckham captain of England for the first time. He managed theEngland under-20 team in 2013. Outside England, Taylor was the head coach of theBahrain national football team.
During his time as a player with Crystal Palace during the 1970s, Taylor became one of the few players to have been selected for the senior England team when not playing in the top two flights of a domestic league.
Taylor enjoyed a successful playing career as awinger. He began his youth career withCanvey Island,[1] and had trials atTottenham Hotspur andCrystal Palace[2] before signing as a junior withSouthend United in 1971.[2] Southend gained promotion to theThird Division in 1972 and Taylor's part in their success brought him to the attention of Crystal Palacemanager,Malcolm Allison, who signed him on 11 October 1973[3] for £110,000.[2] Palace were relegated to the third tier at the end of that season, but Taylor was named Player of the Year and remained at the club for two further seasons, becoming player of the year again in 1976.[2] The 1975–76 season was a high point in Taylor's career as Palace reached theFA Cup semi-final, Taylor scoring two goals in the quarter-final in a 3–2 away win atChelsea[4] and he also made four appearances for the fullEngland team, scoring twice. However, Palace's season tailed off after the semi-final and they did not achieve promotion to the second tier. At the end of the season Allison resigned and was replaced byTerry Venables, and on 30 September 1976[3] Taylor was allowed to depart for top-flight Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £400,000.[2]
Taylor scored on his debut in a 4–2 defeat atThe Hawthorns toWest Bromwich Albion. He had a mixed career at Spurs; the club suffered relegation in 1977 but was promoted in 1978. Taylor did not make another England appearance and in 1980 moved on toLeyton Orient, having made 123 appearances for Tottenham during which he scored 31 times. He played 56 times for Orient, scoring eleven times in three seasons, and had a brief loan spell atOldham Athletic. In 1983–84 Taylor made eight appearances forExeter City before moving intonon-league football with firstlyMaidstone United, and thenChelmsford City,Dartford[2] andEnfield.[5]
Taylor made his England debut as a substitute versusWales and scored the winning goal in the 80th minute of that game. He scored his second international goal against the same opponents in the next match that he played.[6] Taylor was the last English footballer to score two goals in his first two international games beforeRickie Lambert repeated the feat in 2013.[7]
After his playing career ended, Taylor embarked on a career as a coach and manager.
Taylor became player manager atnon-league clubDartford. In his four seasons there, club attendances rose from 400 to around 1,000, he won the Southern Cup twice and each season he was there Dartford scored more than 100 goals. Taylor's first managerial role in theFootball League was atSouthend United. He spent two years between 1993 and 1995 as manager but quit at the end of the1994–95 season after failing to get them beyond the middle of theDivision One table. Taylor took on the job as manager ofConference clubDover Athletic in1995–96 season and guided the club to 20th, enough to stave off the threat of relegation as only two clubs were relegated that season.
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 bossGlenn Hoddle to manage theEngland under-21 side. His record (for competitive matches) was eleven wins, three draws and one defeat from fifteen games. In this time, England finished ninth in1998 European Championship and qualified for the2000 finals comfortably, winning every match without conceding a goal. But with three matches to play, Taylor was replaced in a controversial manner byHoward Wilkinson, who won the next two matches. The three goals conceded in the 3–1 defeat to group runners-upPoland were the only blemish on the team's qualifying record. England under Wilkinson later got knocked out in the group stage of thefinals, winning against Turkey but losing to Slovakia and champions Italy.
Taylor returned to club management at the beginning of the1999–2000 season withGillingham, and at the end of the season guided them to victory overWigan Athletic in theDivision Two play-off final which marked theKent club's promotion to the upper half of the English league for the first time in their history. During this season he also guided the Gills to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup after impressive wins over Premiership opposition in Bradford City and Sheffield Wednesday (a brace of 3–1 home wins), before losing 5–0 away to Chelsea in the last eight.
A few weeks later he left the club to take charge atLeicester City in thePremier League. He had an excellent start at theEast Midlands club and they went top of the league on 1 October 2000. They stayed at the top of the league for two weeks (Taylor having been votedPremier League Manager of the Month for September 2000) and were in contention for aUEFA Cup place for well over half a season, but nine defeats from their final ten games sucked them down to 13th place in the wake of a shock defeat byWycombe Wanderers in theFA Cup quarter-final.[8]
After a terrible start to the2001–02 season, Taylor was sacked on 30 September 2001.[9]
In November 2000, whilst managing Leicester, Taylor was appointed caretaker manager of England for one match. For that game, a 1–0 defeat byItaly in theStadio Delle Alpi inTurin on 15 November 2000, Taylor looked to youth. He handedDavid Beckham thecaptain'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 andSeth Johnson.
After being sacked by Leicester, he returned to management within two weeks to take charge atBrighton & Hove Albion whose previous managerMicky Adams had become the new assistant manager of Leicester City. Taylor guided Brighton to theDivision Two championship (marking their return to the upper half of the English league after eleven years) but resigned from his job at the end of the season, citing a low budget and the delay to the new stadium.[10]
In November 2002 Taylor was appointed manager ofHull City who were weeks away from their move to the 25,404-seatKC Stadium. A mid-table finish was followed in2003–04 by promotion asDivision Three runners-up. They finished League One runners-up the following season,2004–05, and thus reached theFootball League Championship in the2005–06 season – their first appearance at that level since1990–91, and they finished 18th in the league.
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 the2006 finals but lost to eventual semi-finalistsFrance in a play-off over two legs. He initially retained his position after joining Crystal Palace, and the team qualified for the2007 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 nine wins, five draws and two defeats from sixteen games.
Success at Hull drew attention from other 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 sixteen months atSelhurst Park as he was sacked in October 2007 after a run of poor form left the Eagles hovering dangerously above the bottom three.[11]
A few weeks after his departure from Palace, Taylor was appointed manager of Conference teamStevenage Borough in November 2007.[12] His first purchase in this role wasJunior Lewis, a player he had previously brought into five other clubs (Dover, Gillingham, Leicester, Brighton and Hull).
On 28 April 2008, Taylor left Stevenage Borough after six months in charge when his short-term contract expired and he had failed to get them into the end of season play-offs. They finished the season in sixth place, 22 points behind the champions, having been in third place and just four points off top spot when he took charge.
On 29 May 2008, he becameWycombe Wanderers manager, following the resignation ofPaul Lambert after their failure to reach the League Two play-off final.[13] He signedJunior Lewis, this time as first team coach.[14] Taylor had a successful start to the 2008–09 season as Wycombe went on an 18-game unbeaten run in the league with promotion to League One being secured on the final day of the season. However, he was dismissed on 9 October 2009 after Wycombe's slow start to the League One season.[15]
On 16 February 2010, Taylor replacedStuart McCall to become manager of League Two sideBradford City, initially on a three-month contract until the end of the2009–10 season. Junior Lewis was employed as first team coach, working with assistant managerWayne Jacobs and youth team coachDavid Wetherall. Taylor signed a one-year contract at Bradford the day before Bradford played Northampton.[16] In January 2011, Taylor turned down an offer from Premier LeagueNewcastle United to be assistant to their new managerAlan Pardew.[17] After three successive defeats later in the month, Taylor came under pressure but vowed to carry on, saying: "I'm not a fool, I can tell that I'm probably not the most popular manager Bradford City's ever had. I'm not prepared to walk away, I'm prepared to take this difficult job head on."[18] City's run of poor form continued and the following month, Taylor and City parted company by mutual consent; although the announcement came before City's game withStockport County, Taylor remained in charge for one final time.[19]
On 11 July 2011, theBahrain Football Association signed Taylor to train the national football team. Just a few months later he led Bahrain to winning the football tournament at the1st GCC Games inManama, the first time Bahrain's national team had won a regional competition in their history. Bahrain beat arch rivals Saudi Arabia 3–1 in a one-sided final. Taylor received a lot of praise from the players, fans and officials for his achievement.
Two months later, Taylor successfully led the Bahrainian team to clinch football gold in the2011 Arab Games inDoha, beating Jordan 1–0 in the final with a last-gasp goal by striker Ismail Abdullatif.[20]
Asked in April 2012 about the arrest and torture of up to 150 pro-democracy athletes, including three of his own players, Taylor told reporters: "Don't go there. You're getting boring."[21]
FIFA had to investigate a match after Bahrain defeatedIndonesia10–0, in aWorld Cup qualifier. Bahrain needed to overcome a 9–0 deficit to have a chance of qualifying for the next stage.[22]
He was sacked on 17 October 2012 after a 2–6 loss toUnited Arab Emirates in a friendly match.[23]
In March 2013, Taylor was appointed as theEngland national under-20 football team manager on a two-month contract, to lead the team who had qualified for the2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.[24] In the finals, England under Taylor were knocked out in the group stages, drawing with Iraq and Chile, and losing to Egypt; England finished bottom of their group.[25]
In October 2013, Taylor was appointed Gillingham manager for the second time, on an interim basis, following the club's sacking ofMartin Allen. On 11 November he was appointed full-time manager, with a contract lasting until the end of the season.[26] He was relieved of his duties on 31 December 2014.[27]
On 8 May 2015,Indian Super League clubKerala Blasters appointed Taylor as thehead coach for the season ahead.[28]However, after four defeats in a row in a then 14 game season put the club in serious cross roads meaning Taylor was manager to sacked in club's history. On 28 October 2015 Taylor departed as Kerala Blasters gaffer.[29]
In September 2016, Taylor accepted the offer to become assistant toAnthony Hudson with theNew Zealand men's national football team. Taylor was to be based in England and mainly to work with the New Zealand players based there.[30]
In May 2017 he was appointed as director of football at Gillingham, alongside his New Zealand duties.[31] He was appointed Gillingham's interim manager following the departure of head coachAdrian Pennock on 25 September 2017.[32] He left both roles at Gillingham on 12 October 2017.[33]
Taylor was appointed manager ofNational League clubDagenham & Redbridge on 5 June 2018, with Terry Harris as his assistant.[34] Taylor left Dagenham & Redbridge in December 2019; the club stated that a change was required due to recent results.[35]
On 28 September 2021, Taylor was appointed manager ofNational League South clubWelling United.[36] On 13 March 2022, after 166 days in charge, Taylor departed Welling after a 1–1 draw againstBath City four points above the relegation zone, with bottom clubBillericay Town having a game in hand over Welling.[37]
On 13 December 2022, Taylor was appointed manager ofIsthmian League North Division clubMaldon & Tiptree.[38] On 20 August 2023, Taylor left Maldon & Tiptree.[39]
Southend United
Individual
Gillingham
Brighton & Hove Albion
Hull City
Wycombe Wanderers
Bahrain
Individual
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1976 | 4 | 2 |
| Total | 4 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 March 1976 | Racecourse Ground,Wrexham, Wales |  Wales | 2–0 | 2–1 | Friendly | [45] |
| 2 | 8 May 1976 | Ninian Park,Cardiff, Wales | Wales | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1975–76 British Home Championship | [46] |
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||||||
| Southend United |  | August 1993 | February 1995 | 84 | 27 | 16 | 41 | 032.14 | |||
| England U-21s | | July 1996 | June 1999 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 060.00 | |||
| Gillingham | | July 1999 | June 2000 | 62 | 34 | 12 | 16 | 054.84 | |||
| Leicester City | | June 2000 | September 2001 | 54 | 19 | 9 | 26 | 035.19 | |||
| England | | November 2000 | November 2000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.00 | |||
| Brighton & Hove Albion | | October 2001 | May 2002 | 38 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 055.26 | |||
| Hull City | | October 2002 | June 2006 | 184 | 77 | 50 | 57 | 041.85 | |||
| England U-21s | | 2004 | January 2007 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 056.25 | |||
| Crystal Palace | | June 2006 | October 2007 | 60 | 21 | 16 | 23 | 035.00 | |||
| Stevenage Borough | | November 2007 | April 2008 | 32 | 13 | 4 | 15 | 040.63 | |||
| Wycombe Wanderers | | May 2008 | October 2009 | 46 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 041.30 | |||
| Bradford City | | February 2010 | February 2011 | 46 | 18 | 7 | 21 | 039.13 | |||
| Bahrain |  | July 2011 | October 2012 | 20 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 035.00 | |||
| England U-20s | | March 2013 | July 2014 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 000.00 | |||
| Gillingham | | October 2013 | December 2014 | 67 | 23 | 14 | 30 | 034.33 | |||
| Kerala Blasters |  | May 2015 | October 2015 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 016.67 | |||
| Gillingham (caretaker) | | 25 September 2017 | 12 October 2017 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 025.00 | |||
| Dagenham & Redbridge | | 5 June 2018 | 29 December 2019 | 81 | 25 | 20 | 36 | 030.86 | |||
| Welling United | | 28 September 2021 | 13 March 2022 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 024.00 | |||
| Maldon & Tiptree | | 13 December 2022 | 21 August 2023 | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 037.50 | |||
| Total | 873 | 342 | 205 | 326 | 039.18 | ||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
