Popular Post TrentVilla Posted January 13, 2017 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted January 13, 2017 Nope. Still don't feel better about this today. I wish I could be at Wolves. For those who are, even if you aren't old enough to remember his first spell sing this guys name with passion and pride. Because that is what he breathed back into this club. You look around at those old enough to remember when they are singing, they will be belting it out. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted January 13, 2017 Visiting Supporter Share Posted January 13, 2017 19 hours ago, Eastie said: Truly believe he would have built a great dynasty at villa had the England job not taken him away . My thoughts exactly and truly a very sad loss for anyone connected to the Villa. In my neck of the woods there's a saying that the good always go first. RIP. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 (edited) 12 hours ago, TrentVilla said: Taylor was my first hero, the man more than anyone who cemented my love for the club and the game and who signed the very best players I've seen in our colours in 30 odd years. He'll be missed. I am not going to quote it all mate but this was a lovely post. This line though about him being your first hero struck a real chord with me. I think being so young when we won the league and European Cup ( I was 7 in 1981) then Graham Taylor was probably my first real hero alongside McGrath and Cowans who of course he signed. In terms of managers he has been the only one I have ever idolised. Not just for what he did here in turning us around but because he was simply a nice man. He desperately wanted to make us as fans happy and went out of his way to make a very real human connection with us. He understood that football was about way more than what happened on the pitch for 90 minutes once a week something you don’t see now as 99% of those within football at the highest levels just don’t get it. Looking back now the worst thing that happened to us as a club in my time following us wasn’t last season. It was Graham Taylor leaving in 1990. He could have been our Alex Ferguson had he stayed. Maybe that is being greedy though and I should just be thankful he was also the best thing that happened to this club during my time. Edited January 13, 2017 by markavfc40 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Desperately sad news, especially to Villa fans of a certain age who were there supporting Villa during his reign. I'll never forget how he brought back pride to our club and made us one of the best teams in the land again. This is the man who gave us Platt, Yorke and McGrath for goodness sake! More important though was the fact that Graham Taylor was a gentleman and I'm proud that he will forever be associated with my football club. Rest in peace, Graham, and thankyou. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 15 hours ago, Xela said: Absolutely gutted The first Villa manager I remember and still the best. What he did in his first spell here was astonishing. Took over a wreck of a club and got us promoted at the first attempt after a poor start. First season back in the top flight was a season of consolidation (but we put 13 past small heath in 3 cup games!) and in his third season we nearly won the league. We were the best team in the country for a long spell that season and was only inexperience and a lack of a goalscorer which cost us. McInally had been sold to Bayern Munich in pre season and we went into the season with Ian Olney (youth striker) up front before Cascarino was purchased with 10 games to go (rumours are he wanted Sheringham but Doug wouldn't pay the fee). We lost to a Liverpool team packed with stars like Barnes Beardsley, Aldridge, Houghton, McMahon and a returning Ian Rush. Our team was a rag tag bunch of discarded older players (Paul McGrath, Derek Mountfield), canny lower division signings (Stuart Gray, Chrissy Price, David Platt, Ian Ormondroyd) and youth (Ian Olney, Tony Daley). GT purchased all of them and also a young lad from Trinidad and Tobago called Dwight Yorke who he spotted on a beach! We spoke about club legends recently and I mentioned the 3 players who are the best I have ever seen down the club - all three were purchased by GT. Platt, McGrath and Yorke. Plus he brought Cowans back home from Bari. The vast majority of his signings worked out well. Am I right in thinking he purchased Rambo McInally as well? What an eye for a player! He was an absolute legend for what he did here between 1987 and 1990 and he's up there in my eyes with the likes of Ron Saunders, Eric Houghton, Jonny Dixon, George Ramsey, William McGregor and the other giants in our wonderful clubs folklore. What is staggering is that it won't just be us Villa fans dishing out plaudits like this. If anything his achievement at Watford was even greater! - fourth division to the first in five seasons and runners up in the league and FA Cup. At Watford! GT is a legend for 2 clubs and there aren't many people who that could be said about. RIP Graham. You made me love Aston Villa and football when I was a snotty nosed kid on an Erdington estate and I will always love you for that. I love this post! Absolutely spot on Xela mate 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 That Elton John interview, from a few pages back, just shows what a great man Graham Taylor was. For a club chairman to talk like that about the man who took his club to its highest heights and then want to leave is testament to Graham for how hard he worked and the fantastic job he did at Watford. On top of that, Elton John actually predicts that Graham would make Villa a top club again and how right he was. It's such a shame that we had such a crap owner at the time! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Quote “In this job you get nice things said about you and bad things said about you. The trick is not to spend any longer thinking about one than the other. In the end they are both bollocks.” - Graham Taylor 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post VILLAMARV Posted January 13, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted January 13, 2017 found that gem and this in a piece in the Irish Times Quote During a book signing in the summer of 2007 a stranger passed Graham Taylor a handwritten note relating to its author’s wedding, scheduled for the following January. “I got the letter and thought I knew what was coming,” Taylor said. “I thought I’d be asked to do a video message but to my surprise he wanted me to be his best man. I sat down with my wife and agreed to do it. The sheer cheek of it just tickled my senses.” And so it is that Taylor was the star turn at the nuptials of, as he described it, “a man I’d never met and a bride I’d never seen”. It is a story that sums up Taylor perfectly, particularly given it was not even his own book he was signing. Apparently it was the first time he had fulfilled the role of best man, though it is a phrase that suited him rather well. click 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NurembergVillan Posted January 13, 2017 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted January 13, 2017 Best case scenario = goosebumps. Likely outcome = tears. 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 @NurembergVillan Thanks for posting that mate. So many stories like this coming out. How blessed were we to have this man associated with our club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted January 13, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 13, 2017 16 minutes ago, markavfc40 said: @NurembergVillan Thanks for posting that mate. So many stories like this coming out. How blessed were we to have this man associated with our club. It's reminding me of when George Michael died a couple of weeks ago. Everyone thought they knew about him, and then everyone learned a whole lot more behind the picture painted in the media. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 22 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said: It's reminding me of when George Michael died a couple of weeks ago. Everyone thought they knew about him, and then everyone learned a whole lot more behind the picture painted in the media. Yes I was thinking that as well. The best people don’t do things for the publicity though (in the case of George Michael I read that he would specifically ask that any donation he made was not made public whilst he was alive) These people do nice things simply because they are genuinely good people. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted January 13, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 13, 2017 Thats the thing though with people like Taylor, he wouldn't have thought he was doing anything special. That wouldn't even have occurred to him. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 (edited) Not feeling any better today. As someone who started going down the Villa in 1988 as a young lad, this hurts (as it does us all). So glad to be a part of the VT community at a time like this. The incredible stories of the great man on this thread, from so many posters , are really uplifting and I can't wait to get to Wolves tomorrow to belt out Graham Taylor's Claret And Blue Army for 90 minutes. Edited January 13, 2017 by One For The Road 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted January 13, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 13, 2017 Just now, One For The Road said: Not feeling any better today. As someone who started going down the Villa in 1988 as a young lad, this hurts. So glad to be a part of the VT community at a time like this. The incredible stories of the great man on this thread, from so many posters , are really uplifting and I can't wait to get to Wolves tomorrow to belt out Graham Taylor's Claret And Blue Army for 90 minutes. Do me a favour, give it some from me will you. 86 was my first season. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 3 minutes ago, TrentVilla said: Do me a favour, give it some from me will you. 86 was my first season. I certainly will mate. As will every single Villa fan in the ground. And no doubt a good proportion of the Wolves fans I hope. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted January 13, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted January 13, 2017 3 hours ago, Xela said: Some great memories of GT's Villa here 26/12/89 - Villa 3 Man Utd 0 (this was the closest Fergie came to getting sacked I believe) 30/12/89 - Villa 2 Arsenal 1 (The Gunners were defending champions and had such a strong team with the likes of Smith, Merse, Adams, O'Leary, Rocastle) 01/01/90 - Chelsea 0 Villa 3 What a week! Below are the goals from the first 2 games. The Holte End in all its glory, the wonderful Trinity Road stand still standing and the emergence of Platt as a world class player. Good times and great memories. Daley down the right in full flight just gave me goosebumps again for the first time in years! What a first touch by Platt for the Arsenal goal?! Cowans, God. Great times. If HDE wasn't such an enormous cockwomble and we had got Sheringham instead of Cascarino we would have been Champions. ven as runners up a decent owner would have had us established top 4 throughout the 90s with that to build on, but not for the first or last time HDE couldn't see the wood for the trees. The fact GT got us to that level after HDE's complete demolition of the EC winning team is a staggering acheivement in such a short space of time. I'm not even sure it would be possible now to be honest. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLillis Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 11 minutes ago, One For The Road said: Not feeling any better today. As someone who started going down the Villa in 1988 as a young lad, this hurts. So glad to be a part of the VT community at a time like this. The incredible stories of the great man on this thread, from so many posters , are really uplifting and I can't wait to get to Wolves tomorrow to belt out Graham Taylor's Claret And Blue Army for 90 minutes. My first season was in was in 84, my favourite years were 88 and 90 and I will remember Everton Away as one of my best Villa experiences! I personally met the man and he was polite and friendly and took the time to encourage my 7 year old at the start of a fun run near the Bull Ring about 10 years ago. Some people have an aura about them and he was one of them! I, also cant wait to get to Molineux a sign that famous song again. RIP Graham Taylor - Villa Legend 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RimmyJimmer Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 17 minutes ago, TrentVilla said: Do me a favour, give it some from me will you. 86 was my first season. I'll try but I might be on my own in the billy wright stand! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 2 minutes ago, RimmyJimmer said: I'll try but I might be on my own in the billy wright stand! You know what, I think they will be with you on this one. At least I bloody well hope so.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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