coventryplayersofthe50s

Peter Thomas Taylor, (July 2, 1928 – October 4, 1990), was an English football
goalkeeper who played for Port Vale, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and
Nottingham Forest. More notably, he was a successful coach at Derby County
and Nottingham Forest alongside Brian Clough.
Career
Peter John Taylor was born on 2 July, 1928, in Nottingham. He was signed as a
goalkeeper by Nottingham Forest in 1945, played for Coventry City between 1950
and 1955 and then moved to Middlesbrough where, as a reserve goalkeeper, he
first encountered a young striker called Brian Clough. It was perhaps one of his first,
great, pieces of talent-spotting as he sang the praises of Clough who went on to
become a prolific goal-scorer until injury in 1962 ended his playing career.

Taylor is most famous for his managerial partnership with Clough. The two first met
in 1955 at Middlesbrough, where Taylor was a reserve goalkeeper and Clough an
up-and-coming striker. Taylor was among the first to spot Clough's potential as a
forward and helped him break into the first team.

While Clough inspired and motivated the team, it was Taylor who had the uncanny
ability to spot talent and potential. Clough once said of his colleague: "I'm not
equipped to manage successfully without Peter Taylor. I am the shop window and
he is the goods in the back."Taylor himself described their partnership as: "We
just gelled together, we filled in the gaps...My strength was buying and selecting
the right player, then Brian's man management would shape the player."

In October 1962, Taylor was offered the manager's job at Burton Albion. He created
one of the most successful sides in Burton's history, winning the Southern League
Cup in 1964. A year later he became Clough's assistant manager at Hartlepools
(now Hartlepool). Before their arrival, the club had been forced to apply for
re-election to the Football League four times in the previous six years. The two
gradually turned around the club's fortunes, leading them to an 8th place finish
in the Fourth Division. In May 1967 both men left to join Derby County. The team
they built at Hartlepools was promoted the following year.

At Derby, Taylor and Clough proceeded to re-build the side with Taylor instrumental
in signing players such as Dave Mackay and Roy McFarland. Derby were promoted
to the First Division in 1969. They finished fourth in 1970 and won the League
Championship in 1972 - the first in the club's history. Derby reached the semi-finals
of the European Cup the following season, controversially losing to Juventus.
On October 15, 1973, both he and Clough resigned, partially after a dispute with
the Derby board over Taylor's crucial but largely undefined role, although numerous
reasons were behind Clough and Taylor's resignation. There were protests over
this at Derby's next home game against Leicester City on October 20 1973, as
the Derby fans demanded Clough and Taylor's reinstatement.

The two then took over at Third Division Brighton on November 1 1973,
though this time with less success. Just after Clough and Taylor were
appointed, the team lost 4-0 at home to Walton and Hersham at home in a FA Cup
replay and then 8-2 at home to Bristol Rovers on December 1 1973. Brighton
finished 19th in the final table that season.

Clough left for Leeds United in July 1974 but Taylor stayed on at the South coast
club for a further two seasons, guiding the team to a 4th place finish in 1975-76.
On July 16, 1976, Taylor resigned as manager and joined Clough at Nottingham
Forest. A year later Brighton were promoted to the Second Division under Alan
Mullery and in 1978-79 they reached the First Division.

Within a year of Taylor's arrival, Forest were promoted to the First Division.
In 1977, Taylor decided to replace John Middleton with Peter Shilton.In their first
season back in the top division, Forest emphatically won the Championship,
finishing seven points clear of runners-up Liverpool . They also won the League
Cup, winning the latter by beating Liverpool 1-0 in a replay. In 1979, Forest won
the European Cup with victory over Malmö FF and the League Cup again. The
European Cup was retained a year later, this time against Kevin Keegan's
Hamburg SV, though the club were denied a third consecutive League Cup
win after a defeat in the final to Wolves.

Feud with Clough
Taylor retired in May 1982 after Forest finished 12th in the league and were
knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Wrexham, but took over as
manager of Derby six months later in November of that year. At the time Derby
were going through serious financial problems and were bottom of the table,
but he steered them to a mid-table position by the end of the season. 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 5th round, being
knocked out by Manchester United 1-0 at home. That season, Derby went
through a 14-match unbeaten run. However, the following season saw the
team struggle again, and Taylor resigned in early April 1984 with the club third
from bottom of the Second Division. There was no money to spend on new
players. Derby were almost bankrupt and were rescued at the last minute in
late March 1984. However, the team reached the quarter-finals in the FA Cup
that season, being knocked out 1-0 in a replay against Plymouth Argyle by
means of an own goal. The revenue obtained from the FA Cup run almost
certainly helped to keep the club afloat.

It appears, according to Tony Francis' 1987 biography of Clough and
Duncan Hamilton's 2007 publication called "Provided you don't kiss me:
20 years with Brian Clough", that the relationship started to fracture in the
Autumn of 1980 when Taylor published "With Clough by Taylor",
an autobiography which was largely based on Taylor's work with Clough.
He did not tell Clough that he was writing the book at the time. Taylor's
relationship with Clough was finally damaged permanently after a dispute
over the transfer of John Robertson from Forest to Derby in May 1983,
when Taylor apparently didn't tell Clough that he was signing Robertson.
Clough attacked Taylor afterwards in a tabloid article as being a "Rattlesnake",
"A Snake-in-the-grass" and said that "We pass each other on the A52 going
to work on most days of the week. But if his car broke down and I saw him
thumbing a lift, I wouldn't pick him up, I'd run him over".

Clough and Taylor would never speak to one another again. In 1989,
a year before he died, Taylor urged Clough in a tabloid article to retire before A)
a chairman like Longson forced him out and B) his health suffered under the strain
of being a top-level manager, forcing him into premature retirement. Clough
fiercely denounced both of Taylor's suggestions, saying they weren't fit to
be in the "wrappers that we used to eat Fish and Chips in Middlesbrough"
but within a few years time, it was Taylor who would be correct but he would
not live to see his prediction come true.

Death
Peter Taylor died suddenly whilst on holiday in Costa De Los Pinos, Majorca,
aged 62 on 4 October 1990. When told of Taylor's death by Ron Fenton,
Clough apparently didn't speak, put the phone down on him and cried heavily.
Clough attended the funeral eleven days later and 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".

Clough also paid tribute to Taylor when he was awarded the freedom of
the city of Nottingham in March 1993, saying that "I have only one regret today,
and that is that me mate isn't here with me". He also paid tribute to Taylor in
September 1999 when a bust of himself was unveiled at the City ground,
saying that he would like the "The Brian Clough" stand to be renamed the
"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor Stand" in recognition of the big contribution
Taylor made to the partnership.

Brian Clough never had the same amount of success as a manager
without Peter Taylor.

Piczo