A tribute to the former Watford manager Graham Taylor

Six years on from his untimely death, I still get emotional on this particular day and I’m pretty sure I will again on Saturday when Watford mark the passing of the great man with their annual ‘Graham Taylor Matchday’.

I was very fortunate – very fortunate – to write about GT, then work with him and end up being a friend. How lucky was I? The man who took my club to places it had never been before, did it with a smile on his face and ensured Watford FC never forgot where it came from by leading and living the culture that made it such a special place.

My own Dad will always be the greatest role model in my life, and one of the countless things he did for me was to give up his own support of Tottenham (he’s not perfect, but who is?!) to start taking me to watch Watford from 1977 onwards.

Then there was my primary school headmaster, the late Brian Sears, and one of my teachers at Yorke Mead School in Croxley Green, John Hazell, both of whom gave me the courage to write about football and showed me that it could be just as rewarding as playing the game. They were/are both Watford fans too.

That desire to write about football led me to work with, learn from and become a lifelong friend of the great Oli Phillips - anything I do well in the Watford Observer now stemmed from that great journalist.

And the fifth man who shaped me into the person and professional I am today was Graham Taylor.

Everything positive you read about him, every mention of the many kind things he did, every time you hear about his wise and generous nature – well take those, multiple them tenfold or more and you’re getting close to the man I knew.

You see, in football, you meet many people who have a tremendous public persona, but once the cameras go away and the supporters have left, they are nothing like the character the fans and media know.

With Graham, he was every bit the man you saw at games, on TV, attending a local function or stopping to chat to a fan. And then some.

I first encountered Graham when I worked at the Watford Observer in the late 90s during his second spell at the club. When Oli Phillips slipped off to Spain each summer for a couple of weeks rest, I would take up the mantle of keeping the WFC news ticking over.

Graham on the training pitch with Alon Hazan and Micah Hyde (Image: Action Images)

I’m not going to lie: the first time I spoke to GT, one-to-one, I was a bag of nerves. And he knew that. So if I recall, we ended up talking about music to start with, and then had a chat about Euro 96. I seem to recall he was working at the tournament as a co-commentator.

Then we discussed my wedding the previous month and, well, you can see that in the space of a few minutes he’d put me at my ease and it didn’t feel like a lifelong fan talking to his hero about his football club.

When later Graham offered me the chance to head up his communications team at Vicarage Road, I had to go and meet with him in his office at the ground.

We knew each other by then, but again I was nervous. I was being ‘signed’ by Graham Taylor. I tried to play it cool but I know I failed as later he would tell me he could see me shaking in the chair.

Once we’d sorted out all the paperwork, I remember shaking hands and he said to me: “Andrew, all I ask of you is that you give of your best…your very best. If you do that, then I can ask for no more. And in return, you will always have my support.”

From that day on, he supported me. There were times where I made mistakes, but he covered my back publicly. Quite rightly, behind closed doors he pointed out where I’d gone wrong and what to do better, but never once did he ever do anything other than stand shoulder to shoulder with me in the face of problems with media, players or anything else.

I remember early on he asked me to travel with him, the staff and players when they were staying overnight before an away game. I even got a club tracksuit to wear, and I sat at the front of the bus with him, Kenny Jackett, Luther Blissett, Tom Walley et al.

My away trip companions: GT, with physio Paul Rastrick, Kenny Jackett and Luther Blissett (Image: Action Images)

Imagine that. A boy who stood on the Family Terrace and queued for the autographs of these legends at Open Days was now sitting with them, chatting and part of the team.

We had some great laughs and Graham was a superb storyteller. And boy, did he have abundant anecdotes to share.

But he also involved you into the conversation and wanted your opinion. I’ll admit it took me a while to feel I had earned my stripes in order to have a voice in those chats, but GT would include me in a way that made me feel comfortable.

I remember one occasion where we’d been sharing jokes on the bus ride to a hotel somewhere, and the next morning everyone gathered in a meeting room for Graham’s pre-match talk. Out of nowhere he said “Andrew told me a great joke yesterday…Andrew stand up here and tell the lads”.

Suddenly the eyes of the entire first team squad turned to me, and I slowly walked to the front of the room and retold the joke. I was halfway through when Graham interrupted and said “Do the actions like you did yesterday, you can’t leave the actions out”.

So I carried on – with actions – got a lot of laughs and when I’d finished, GT went into manager mode and ran through his typically detailed preview of that day’s opponents and what he wanted from his own players.

When he left Watford I was gutted, but his departure actually helped our friendship grow as we then had to make the effort to stay in touch rather than rely on seeing each other at work.

Back in those days, Graham was still handwriting letters, and we started by exchanging those. I’ve shared one here: I had just left Watford to join Charlton, and also found out that my wife Amanda was pregnant with what turned out to be our second son (Liam), so my elder son Aidan was getting a brother or sister.

One of my letters from GT (Image: Andrew French)

You’ll see he knew all about that – he seemed to know everything about everyone, and that’s what made him so special. Through all his many successful years, through the dark days too, and on into retirement, he made the time and effort to know about everyone else.

Although I’ve hidden the details, you’ll see he shared his new email address with me. That was ground-breaking: GT was moving with the times! He had email. When I worked with him at Watford, he handwrote his programme notes and sent them by fax!

We would meet up for the odd lunch or drink in the following years, and regularly my phone would ring, and it would be GT just wanting a chat. In the last six years, I’ve wished so many times his name would pop up on my phone just once more…

I remember Alec Chamberlain invited me to his testimonial match at Watford in 2005, and I took my Dad along. We were hosted in the Elton John Suite, and Dad met lots of players before GT came over and said hello.

I knew Dad was in his element, being a big football fan, but what I wasn’t expecting was when Graham said: “You must be very proud of this lad. I’ve not got sons myself, but if I had I’d be very happy if they turned out like Andrew.”

I’ll never forget that.

When my boys were mascots in 2010 (home to Coventry, John Eustace scored a worldy), I asked Graham if he might have time to have a picture taken with them. He came back and said to bring them, and the rest of the family, to the boardroom at half-time.

He came out and greeted us, knew the boys’ names, sat and chatted about the game and football generally, was happy to have numerous pictures taken and spoke to my family like we were all old friends.

I was out at a work lunch on this day, six years ago. I remember one of the people I was with had an alert noise on her phone, looked at the screen and said “Oh dear, Graham Taylor has died – you knew him didn’t you Andrew?”

I did indeed. And I treasure all the many things that knowing Graham Taylor brought to my life, as well as what he did for the town of Watford and it’s football club.

He gave of his best…his very best. And all who love Watford could ask for no more.