Top facts about Peter Taylor, Brian clough's best friend

Peter Thomas Taylor was a footballer and manager from England. He went on to manage Derby County and

, winning the Football League with both teams and the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest.

His partnership with Brian Clough was one of the most successful and iconic partnerships in the whole football history and we have covered most of it in

top facts about Peter Taylor

article.

He spent most of his career by Clough’s side as manager assistant. Clough hired Taylor as his assistant at Hartlepools United in 1965, and Taylor assisted Clough in rebuilding the football roster.

In May 1967, the duo went to

, where they won the Second Division championship in 1968–69, the First Division title in 1971–72. After their tense relationship with the club's board of directors grew untenable, the two resigned in October 1973.

Clough and Taylor joined Brighton & Hove Albion in November 1973, and Taylor remained as manager after Clough departed in July 1974.

Taylor departed Brighton in July 1976 to join Clough at Nottingham Forest. They repeated their success at Derby by earning promotion to the first tier in 1976–77 and then won the league championship in 1977–78, and then went on to win the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.

Forest has also won the Anglo-Scottish Cup, FA Charity Shield, European Super Cup, and League Cup thrice. Taylor retired in May 1982 but returned to coach Derby County in November 1982.

He resigned for the second and last time in April 1984, yet after a split over a player transfer in May 1983, he and Clough didn't communicate until Taylor's untimely death in October 1990, something Clough would come to regret.

Uncovering top facts about Peter Taylor, Brian clough best friend

In this article we will go through Taylor's playing career as it has been less talked about than his managerial career, then we will discuss his and Clough's relationship and uncover the reason for their separation until Taylor's death.

We would also talk about his family if we can get our hands on valid information about his wife and children.

Now, without further introduction let us hop into the article of top facts about Peter Taylor.

Peter Taylor information

Let's start with the most important information about this legendary manager for those who are unfamiliar with him or who want to be prepared to read the top facts about Peter Taylor.

Personal information

• Full name:

  Peter Thomas Taylor

• Date of birth:

  2 July 1928

• Date of death:

  4 October 1990

• Aged:

  62

• Nationality:

  English

• Place of birth:

  Nottingham, England

• Marital status:

  Married

• Religion:

  Christianity

Football information

• Position:

  Goalkeeper

• Last team played for:

  Burton Albion

• Club appearances:

  237

Physical stats and appearance

• Height:

  1.88 m

• Hair color:

  Salt and pepper

• Skin color:

  White

• Facial hair:

  Clean

Now that you've learned all there is to know about Peter Taylor, we can go on to the next area of

top facts about Peter Taylor

, which will include more details and elaborations on the topics mentioned before.

Peter Taylor wife and family

Let us start off top facts about peter Taylor with his family because his wife was the reason for which he followed a football career.

Peter Taylor was born on July 2, 1928, in the Meadows, Nottingham, to Tom and Jenny Taylor, an engineer and a housewife, respectively. He was the eighth of eight children. At the age of 14, he met his future wife Lily Thorpe, who convinced him to join her father's squad, Christchurch, a local non-league team.

Taylor's son, Phil, and daughter, Wendy Dickinson, have worked tirelessly since his death to ensure that their father's legacy is not forgotten.

Peter Taylor player career

On his 17th birthday, he joined Coventry City, although he was just a part-time player at first since his father required that he also finish a bricklaying apprenticeship.

In 1950–51, Coventry finished eighth in the Second Division under Harry Storer's leadership, and Taylor made his Football League debut on the penultimate day of the season, surpassing Alf Wood's record of 261 straight first-team appearances.

Taylor made 29 games for Coventry before they were relegated in 1951–52.

The goalkeeper played 42 games for Coventry in 1953–54, helping them to a 14th-place finish under Jack Fairbrother, and then ten games in 1954–55, helping them to a ninth-place finish. After losing his first-team spot to future

Hall of Famer and England international Reg Matthews, Taylor chose to quit the club.

After new Coventry manager Jesse Carver and new coach George Raynor assessed the playing staff, Taylor was traded to Middlesbrough for £3,500 in the summer of 1955.

Taylor met his future managerial partner Brian Clough at Middlesbrough, where he was then the club's fourth-choice striker. Taylor saw Clough's talent and assisted him in breaking into the first team.

Norman Low, the manager of

, paid Middlesbrough £750 for Taylor's services in June 1961.

Ken Hancock was a virtual ever-present at Vale Park from 1960 to 1964, and his single appearance was in a 2–1 Third Division loss at Bradford Park Avenue on February 3, 1962. In May 1962, he signed a free move to Burton Albion, where he started his managerial career.

Peter Taylor and Brian Clough managerial duo

Now as the fundamental part of the article of top facts about Peter Taylor, we will take a look at both his and Clough’s career as an inseparable duo of legendary managers.

After impressing chairman Trevor Grantham with his expertise and views on the game, Taylor was handed the manager's post at

in October 1962. In 1965, he walked out on a three-year contract with Burton for £34 per week to become Clough's deputy manager at Hartlepools United for £24 per week.

After replacing the majority of the playing staff, the two led the club to an eighth-place finish in the Fourth Division in 1966–67, an improvement above the pair's previous best of 18th place in 1965–66.

Clough had already expressed his desire to leave the club owing to meddling from chairman Ernest Ord, but Taylor urged that they remain since they couldn't walk out on their first managerial position. Clough intended to stay at Hartlepools when Ord quit as chairman, but Taylor convinced him to accept the Derby job.

Taylor and Clough went on to rebuild Derby, with Taylor playing a key role in the signings of Dave Mackay and Roy McFarland. In 1968–69, Derby was promoted to the First Division.

Clough was named manager of

& Hove Albion in the third division on November 1, 1973, with Taylor coming as his assistant.

Clough went for Leeds United in July 1974, but Taylor refused to follow him since he believed Brighton and club chairman Mike Bamber had treated them well, and the partnership terminated after nine years, with Taylor remaining as sole manager at the Goldstone Ground.

Iconic duo reunion

After their separation, it seemed that this unbreakable relationship had finally come to end but Taylor proved the opposite. Let us read more about their reunion in this section of

top facts about Peter Taylor

.

Taylor quit as Brighton manager on July 16, 1976, and reunited with Clough, who had gone on to Nottingham Forest following a 44-day stint as Leeds United manager.

The 1976–77 Anglo-Scottish Cup was the first trophy won by Clough and Taylor. In the two-legged final contested in December 1976, Forest defeated Orient 5–1 on aggregate. Clough considered winning a despised prize to be the club's first silverware since 1959, stating: "Those who said it was a meaningless trophy were outright liars. We'd won something, and it meant the world to us."

The European Cup was defended in 1980, this time at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium against Kevin Keegan's Hamburger SV.

Clough and Taylor then started the process of dismantling the championship-winning squad, selling Martin O'Neill, Ian Bowyer, Garry Birtles, and Larry Lloyd while putting together a new team centered on teenagers like Gary Mills, Stuart Gray, Colin Walsh, and Bryn Gunn.

Ian Wallace, a striker, and Raimondo Ponte, a Switzerland international, were among the newcomers.

Taylor left Forest in May 1982 after the club ended 12th in the league, with new additions Justin Fashanu and Raimondo Ponte proving to be a disappointment.

Clough would continue at Forest for another 11 seasons, but without Taylor, the club's trophy cupboard would be reduced to two League Cups and two Full Members Cups, and Clough would suffer from alcoholism.

Peter Taylor relationship with Clough

They worked with each other for years, but how close was their relationship? Let us answer that in this section of top facts about Peter Taylor.

Clough was reported to have said "Without Peter Taylor, I won't be able to manage effectively. He is the stuff in the back, and I am the store window."

Clough had a fiery personality and was effective at encouraging players, whilst Taylor was more reticent, however, he had the ability to recognize exceptional players, and the two operated as a team by complementing each other's qualities.

Cliff Wright, a former Hartlepools player, characterized the duo as "There are two types of cops: good cops and nasty cops. Cloughie would break you down, at least verbally, and Pete would take you up and reassemble you."

Clough had much more notoriety than Taylor since he was a larger personality and had the title of manager, which irritated Taylor "I'm not sure why he never tells Bell's whiskey, for example, that they'll have to offer an additional gallon bottle when they give out Manager of the Month awards.

We are two people." They were extremely close on a personal level, and they often completed one other's sentences.

Though Taylor and Clough had a close friendship and cooperation, their relationship had sometimes gotten difficult. When Taylor was at Derby in 1971, he was enraged to hear that Clough had omitted to inform him that he had received a £5,000 wage hike from chairman Sam Longson.

He was also irritated that Clough was often out on media assignments while he was left to perform a greater amount of the work with the players.

Taylor's relationship with Clough deteriorated further in the fall of 1980, when he released With Clough, by Taylor, an autobiography based primarily on Taylor's work with Clough. Taylor had kept Clough in the dark about the book's existence and refused to give him a cut of the profits.

Although they parted on good terms when Taylor retired in May 1982 and spent time together in Cala Millor that summer, their relationship was severely strained when Taylor took over as manager of Derby County in November 1982 and was permanently damaged after a dispute over the transfer of John Robertson from Forest to Derby, where Taylor was now managing, in May 1983.

Clough was reportedly enraged by Taylor's failure to tell him about the arrangement. Clough called Taylor a liar in a tabloid piece published on July 3, 1983 "We pass each other on the A52 going to work on most days of the week," he added, "we pass each other on the A52 going to work on most days of the week."

But if his vehicle broke down and I spotted him thumbing a ride, I'd run him over instead of picking him up ". The two guys were never going to talk to each other again.

Peter Taylor death

For the sad part of top facts about Peter Taylor, let us read about his death.

Clough was taken aback when he received a call from Taylor saying he had been given the manager's job at their former club, Derby County.

He was stung by a profound sense of betrayal. Taylor made a return only months after proclaiming he was done with football, and not just at any old club, but back at Derby, where he had achieved such success and then departed in such contentious fashion a decade or so earlier.

Clough couldn't believe what he was hearing, and their relationship was finished.

Clough and Taylor were no longer communicating when the two teams were drawn together in the FA Cup in 1983. Derby played Forest in the FA Cup, and the two men studiously avoided one other throughout the day, never exchanging a word before or after the game.

The free move of John Robertson from Forest to Derby in the summer of 1983 was, of course, the last nail in the coffin. Robertson, who was a free agent at the time, signed with Derby and Taylor without informing Clough in advance. Clough pledged right then and there that he would never talk to Taylor again after learning of the 'lie.'

He stayed true to his promise.

Clough was filled with regret when Peter Taylor died in 1990, and he grieved profusely. Clough lived another 15 years with a feeling of betrayal in his heart at the end of what had been a very magnificent, but sometimes tumultuous relationship.

Peter Taylor, who was 62 at the time, died suddenly of pulmonary fibrosis while on vacation at Costa De Los Pinos, Mallorca, on October 4, 1990. Clough reportedly did not speak when notified of Taylor's death by Ron Fenton, instead of placing the phone on his lap and crying loudly.

He also made a phone call to the Taylor family, despite his distress. Clough, along with the rest of his family, attended the funeral of Colin Todd, Peter Withe, and Archie Gemmill, which took place 12 days later at St Peter's Church in Widmerpool.

Clough wrote a dedication to Taylor in his autobiography, which he published in 1994 "Peter's attention. I still miss you terribly. 'When you get shot of me, there won't be as much laughing in your life,' you once stated. You were absolutely correct."

Thank you for reading our top facts about Peter Taylor. We will also appreciate it if you share this article with your friends or family so they can also learn about this amazing managerial duo.

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