Justified or a little harsh?

TROUBLESOME TIMES

By now we have become accustomed to hearing that the position of the England manager is the "impossible job". Expectations of the media and public alike enforce emphatic praise when the Three Lions perform well, and then come down on them like a ton of bricks when they play badly.

With Graham Taylor it was more of the latter, his tenure at the helm is best remembered for England's failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, the already intense criticism placed against him beforehand reached fever pitch by the time the result arrived.

The year is 1990, the World Cup in Italy has seen England deliver their best result since they triumphed on home soil in 1966, coming so close in reaching the final. Furthermore the nation has a new hero in Paul Gascoigne and a lot of pride has been restored in English football. But it was also the end of an era, after eight years Bobby Robson departed and headed for the Netherlands to manage PSV Eindhoven. Applicants to succeed Robson included Howard Kendall and Joe Royle, Terry Venables was also reported to show interest. But it was Graham Taylor who accepted the position and was appointed on 23 July.

In 2012, BBC commentator John Motson claimed that he felt that Graham Taylor was "absolutely the right choice", however that view was not shared by many, you could be forgiven for thinking none at all. Taylor had been successful as manager of Watford for 10 years. given the fact he guided them from the Fourth Division up to the First Division in the space of just five years. The 1982-83 season saw the newly promoted Watford finish second in the league and thus win a place in the UEFA Cup where they reached the third round. Taylor also took Watford to the 1984 FA Cup Final where they were beaten 2-0 by Everton. In 1987, Taylor became the manager of Aston Villa and he again led his team to the runners up spot in 1989-90. However, the crucial factor missing, which was no doubt noted by the media, was trophies. This led some to question whether he could win the respect of the players.

Nonetheless, for the first two years of Taylor's time as manager, the results on the scoresheet did not necessarily show that the negativity surrounding his appointment was entirely justified. England suffered just one defeat in that time, a 0-1 loss to Germany at Wembley on 11 September 1991. But his tactics were coming under the scrutiny of the press, furthermore there were questions regarding whether he fundamentally knew what his strongest side was. Following Italia 90; Peter Shilton, Terry Butcher and Bryan Robson had retired from international football and Taylor was struggling in his quest to bring new blood into the squad, he also faced criticism for ignoring some established talents. In 1991, Peter Beardsley played in what would be his last game for England for nearly three years. Chris Waddle would never be selected again after October '91 despite being in the form of his life at Marseille and being voted the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1993 during his time at Sheffield Wednesday.



The selection of Gordon Cowans over
Paul Gascoigne in a Euro qualifier against
the Republic of Ireland was an example of
Taylor's questionable decision making. Taylor
said he feared that Gazza would "lose his head"
in a "bruising encounter".

Qualification for Euro 92 was unconvincing to say the least, the Three Lions were placed in a group containing; the Republic of Ireland, Poland and Turkey. Jack Charlton's Irish side had memorably defeated England at Euro 88 and caused them headaches in the first game of Italia 90, in qualifying for Euro 92 they proved to be just as stubborn. The two games between them ended in 1-1 draws. Both encounters against Turkey saw England win by 1 goal to nil, but their final qualification against Poland on 13 November 1991 would see England only just make it to the finals. England had defeated the Poles 2-0 at Wembley but in Poznan it looked as though England were heading for defeat, Poland were 1-0 ahead until a late equaliser by Gary Lineker spared England's heartache.

In fairness, England could have travelled to Sweden with some pride as they had up to then endured an unbeaten 1992, including a 2-1 win against France who they were scheduled to face in their group. England were also due to play the hosts and Yugolsavia, who were subsequently excluded from the tournament due to the Civil War, Denmark took their place and were England's first opponents.

The squad however was considered weak in comparison to their World Cup side of 1990, though again in Taylor's respect he was unlucky; injury curtailed England's most gifted player, Paul Gascoigne and deprived of them of the talent of John Barnes. Taylor also found himself considerably short of defenders, with Lee Dixon, Rob Jones and Gary Stevens all ruled out. Mark Wright's late injury meant Taylor tried to call up Tony Adams until UEFA intervened stating that it was too late.  In the meantime, the absentees resulted in Taylor taking on Keith Curle, who only had 2 caps to his name, playing out of position at right back for the first game against the Danes. England actually started brightly but failed to take advantage of any opportunities to open the score, David Platt missed a good chance. Denmark quickly began to outplay England and very nearly sneaked a win, John Jensen's shot coming off the post after beating Chris Woods. The otherwise rather drab contest ended at 0-0.



Stuart Pearce was headbutted by
Basile Boli when England played
France

In the next game against France, Taylor decided to dispense with a right back altogether, and brought in a young Alan Shearer to partner Lineker up front, but still England couldn't score, Platt's diving header went inches wide of the post, and Stuart Pearce hit the bar with a free-kick, once the game ended at 0-0.



Gary Lineker's England career ends on a very flat note

The result meant that England had to beat Sweden if they were to advance from the group. After four minutes, England took an early lead when David Platt volleyed in a cross from Gary Lineker, the 1-0 scoreline remained until half time and England in fact wasted chances to extend their lead, Tony Daley missed an opportunity to provide the ball to Gary Lineker in the open after a pass from Platt. The hosts entered the second half with renewed energy and equalised after 51 minutes, thanks to a header from Jan Eriksson. With half an hour remaining, Taylor made the decision which would attract the most criticism placed towards him at that time; substituting Gary Lineker, who was in his final game before international retirement and was 1 goal short of equalling Bobby Charlton's record for the most England goals. Lineker threw off his captain's armband in disgust and the bemused England fans turned on Taylor. To make matters worse, 8 minutes from time, Sweden's Tomas Brolin made mince meat of England's uninspiring midfield comprising of Andy Sinton, Neil Webb and Carlton Palmer, the Parma forward played a one-two with striking partner Martin Dahlin and scored a superb goal to send them through, England's wretched record at the Euro's continued as they exited the tournament.

 

Tomas Brolin scores to send England crashing out of
Euro 92

Taylor was vilified greatly by the media back home, most notably by The Sun which began its "turnip" campaign with the headline: " SWEDES 2 TURNIPS 1".

Some respect was handed to Taylor when he admitted to making mistakes soon after England's elimination from the tournament but ultimately, this was short lived. On 9 September 1992, England were defeated 0-1 by Spain and Taylor was depicted by The Sun as a "Spanish Onion".

Qualification for the 1994 World Cup saw England drawn in a group which featured; the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Turkey and San Marino. Never easy, but England were expected to qualify. Their first game was against Norway on 14 October 1992 at Wembley, David Platt put England in front after 55 minutes after a cross from Stuart Pearce, but Norway, confident following their 2-1 win against the Dutch, equalised through Kjetil Rekdal. The game ended at 1-1 and fans showed their disapproval with chants of "Taylor out!". On 18 November England defeated Turkey 4-0 after a convincing performance, Gascoigne in particular played a strong game, scoring twice. However, Alan Shearer, who had also scored against Turkey, would suffer an injury soon after the game, effectively ending his contribution to England's qualifying campaign. Captain, Stuart Pearce also suffered an injury which kept him out of the squad until the following September.

On 17 February 1993, England played their next World Cup qualifier against minnows San Marino, the first half saw England play poorly, (2-0 up at half time against San Marino is not exactly a difficult feat) and the fans booed the players loudly, John Barnes taking a severe hammering. In the second half, Platt scored his third and fourth goals of the game, with two more goals coming from Carlton Palmer and Les Ferdinand. On 31 March, England defeated Turkey 2-0 in Izmir with goals from Platt and Gascoigne, and then came their first encounter with the Netherlands on 28 April at Wembley. England couldn't have started brighter, John Barnes scored from a free kick and then David Platt gave them a 2-0 lead after 24 minutes. The Dutch were in serious danger of waving goodbye to their hopes of qualifying, following their defeat at the hands of Norway and a draw with the Poles, Dennis Bergkamp pulled a goal back but the Netherlands still looked to be heading for another defeat. England's fortunes took another severe battering though as Paul Gascoigne's cheek bone was shattered by the elbow of Jan Wouters. Then in the dying moments of the game Des Walker, drained of form and suffering a loss of confidence, brought down Marc Overmars in the penalty area, Peter Van Vosset scored from the spot and the game ended 2-2. This game was an example of Taylor's bad luck throughout his time as manager.

England's next game was against Poland on 29 May. Their performance was lacklustre, Poland took the lead after 36 minutes with a goal from Dariusz Adamczuk. On an infamous 1994 documentary covering Taylor's qualifying games, he notoriously exclaimed; "Do I not like that!" as the Polish breakthrough on goal. England substitute, Ian Wright scored an equaliser in the 85th minute to make the final score 1-1, but Taylor faced intense criticism once again. Worse was to come when England faced Norway four days later, Taylor opted to make changes of personnel and tactics, which led to further criticism. In what was a crucial game against a Norwegian side topping the qualifying group and looking strong, Taylor was taking a huge risk. Lee Sharpe and Lee Dixon came on as wing-backs, while Carlton Palmer and Platt occupied the midfield as Paul Ince was suspended. Gascoigne supported Teddy Sheringham and an unfit Les Ferdinand up-front. Des Walker, Tony Adams and Gary Pallister formed a back three. England's qualification hopes took a nosedive as Lars Bohinen and Øyvind Leonhardsen ensured a 2-0 win for the Norwegians, by now the English media were calling for Taylor's head, the defeat spawned the headlines "NORSE MANURE", "OSLO RANS" and "THE END OF THE WORLD".

"We made a complete mess of it. I'm here to be shot at and take the rap. I have no defence for our performance" was what Taylor had to say on reflection, although honest he could not escape the hostility of the press. One week later, morale would sink even lower; England were selected to participate in a four-team tournament in the United States, named the U.S. Cup. Prior to their game against the U.S. Taylor said to the press; "In football, you're only as good as your last game, and at the moment we're poor. You can always lose any game, to anyone. It's how you lose that matters. That was the thing that shocked us all in Norway. We would have been looking for a win here anyhow, but if we'd won last week it wouldn't have been considered essential. Now it is. Whether we like it or not, people expect us to beat America, and there is definitely more intensity about this game because of our performance in the last one".

On 9 June, England were beaten 2-0 by the United States, an experience described as "humiliating" and covered in The Sun as "YANKS 2 PLANKS 0!" Taylor was practically public enemy number one as far as England fans and the media were concerned.

Back to the World Cup qualifiers and Taylor handed the captaincy back to a recovered Stuart Pearce from David Platt. On 8 September, England faced Poland and this time provided promising performance, a 3-0 win delivered Taylor some hope of making it to the United States the following summer. A victory against the Netherlands on 13 October would see the verge of qualifying. The game in Rotterdam was again very closely contested; the Dutch put the English under pressure early on but England responded with a string of counter attacks. Platt headed the ball just wide and Tony Adams had a shot cleared off the line by Erwin Koeman, Tony Dorigo hit the post with a 35-yard free-kick after 25 minutes. Then, two minutes before half-time England were fortunate to have a Frank Rijkaard goal disallowed for offside, even though replays showed that the goal was legitimate.  Their luck ran out later in the second half when David Platt was fouled by Ronald Koeman as he raced in on goal. To the disgust of Taylor, the German referee did not send Koeman him off for a professional foul. The Dutch charged down Dorigo's free-kick, with Dutch players clearly exceeding the limitations of the rules. Just minutes later Koeman took an identical free kick outside the England penalty area. His first shot was blocked, but it was ordered to be retaken because Paul Ince was not within the required 10 yards. Koeman scored at the second attempt to give the Dutch the lead. England nearly equalised when Paul Merson hit the post with a free-kick, only for Dennis Bergkamp to extend the Netherlands' lead moments later, despite using his arm to control the ball, for 2–0 win. Taylor was irate on the touchline, berating the officials and referee as the significance of the result sank in.

Taylor vents his anger at the officials as England's hopes of
qualifying for the World Cup are all but over

San Marino's Davide Gualtieri celebrates his goal
after just 8 seconds of play on a dark day for
English football 

17 November 1993, the last day of World Cup Qualification for the UEFA teams, and it was still possible that England could scrape into the World Cup finals; they had to rely on Poland to defeat the Netherlands and put a in a big score against San Marino. Tall order, but in football anything could happen. That statement would prove true in the game, but for the wrong reason. Just 8.3 seconds after kick off, Stuart Pearce underhit a pass back to David Seaman, the ball fell into the path of San Marino striker, Davide Gualtieri and to the disbelief of the English supporters, San Marino found themselves 1-0 ahead, Gualtieri had scored the fastest goal in any World Cup discipline in history, a record which still stands to this day. It took 20 minutes for England to respond, they eventually won the game 7-1 but it was now irrelevant, the news came through that the Netherlands had beaten Poland 3-1 in Poznan. It was now official, England had failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.



The Sun's front page headline on
Graham Taylor's resignation

On 23 November 1993, Graham Taylor announced his resignation. Upon his departure, he had this to say;  "No one can gauge the depth of my personal disappointment at not qualifying for the World Cup, this is the appropriate course of action in the circumstances. If we didn't qualify, it was always my intention to offer my resignation."

Graham Taylor's three year tenure as England manager has unsurprisingly gone down as a failure, for sure his tactics and team selections were unconvincing and deserving of the criticism he received. But on the otherhand he had cruel look at times, injuries robbed England of a stronger squad at times when it was needed. Taylor at least had the attitude that displayed passion, something not seen by Sven-Goran Eriksson and more recently Fabio Capello and he did look like he had the respect of the players, he also had the decency to honestly reveal his mistakes. To an extent, he was bullied out by the press. Unfortunately for him, the "Turnip" tag and "Do I not like that" are perhaps the two most familiar concepts one thinks of when we reflect on Graham Taylor.