Phil Taylor (footballer, born 1917)

Phil Taylor

Personal information
Full name	Philip Henry Taylor
Date of birth	(1917-09-18)18 September 1917
Place of birth	Bristol, England
Date of death	1 December 2012(2012-12-01) (aged 95)
Position(s)	Wing-half
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1935–1936	Bristol Rovers	21	(2)
1936–1954	Liverpool	312	(32)
International career
1947	England	3	(0)
Managerial career
1956–1959	Liverpool
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Philip Henry Taylor (18 September 1917 – 1 December 2012) was an English footballer who played for and managed Liverpool.

Player

Taylor played for his hometown club Bristol Rovers as an apprentice (in 21 league matches, scoring twice) before he was signed by Liverpool manager George Patterson for £5000 plus Ted Hartill in March 1936, he made his debut on the 28th of the same month in a league game at the Baseball Ground, Liverpool shared the points with Derby County in a 2–2 draw with Taylor scoring a late equaliser, his first goal for the club.

Taylor joined Liverpool as a young inside-forward with a lot of potential but was reverted to wing-half by George Kay where he developed into a stylish, composed defender.

Taylor was a member of Liverpool's 1946–47 Championship winning team making 35 league appearances scoring once Taylor represented England 3 times making his debut on 18 October 1947 in a British Championship match at Ninian Park, Cardiff, England legends Tom Finney, Stan Mortensen and Tommy Lawton made it a memorable day for Taylor scoring the goals in a 3–0 win.

Taylor was handed the captaincy during the 1949/50 season and led the side to the FA Cup final on 29 April 1950; he appeared 7 times in the cup run. Arsenal spoilt the day for the Reds by beating them 2–0.

Overall Taylor played 345 games for Liverpool, scoring 34 goals which included 312 league appearances and 32 goals).

Taylor was also a first-class cricketer, and played a single game for the Gloucestershire first team in 1938, as well as three games for their second eleven.

Manager

Upon his retirement in 1954 he joined the backroom staff as a coach. He became manager of Liverpool in 1956 when former manager Don Welsh was sacked after failing to gain promotion back to the 1st Division.

Taylor took over reins with a determination to put Liverpool back where they belonged immediately signing Alan A'Court, Tommy Younger and Liverpool legend Ronnie Moran who ended up spending five decades at Anfield.

Taylor, however, failed to achieve what he set out to do, and after an unsteady start to the 1959/60 campaign he resigned, stating "The strain of trying to win promotion has proved too much." A very sad Taylor spoke to the Liverpool Echo newspaper about the difficult decision to resign as Liverpool manager, saying, "No matter how great has been the disappointment of the Directors at our failure to win our way back to the First Division, it has not been greater than mine. I made it my goal. I set my heart on it and strove for it with all the energy I could muster. Such striving has not been enough and now the time has come to hand over to someone else to see if they can do better."

Taylor's legacy for Liverpool was the back room team he assembled of Reuben Bennett, Joe Fagan and Bob Paisley. All three were retained by succeeding Manager Bill Shankly who together built a multiple trophy winning club.

Retirement

Taylor lived to the age of 95, and was believed to be the oldest living England international footballer at the time of his death, one of the last surviving players to have played before World War II. He died on 1 December 2012.

Death

He died at the age of 95 on 1 December 2012.

Career details

As a player

• Liverpool F.C (1936–1954) – Football League First Division (Level 1) championship winners medal (1947), F.A Cup runners-up medal (1950)
• England (1947) 3 caps

External links

• Official player profile at Liverpoolfc.com
• Player profile at LFChistory.net
• Manager profile at LFChistory.net